'I've achieved my dream': Joy of Taliban shooting victim Malala as she starts first day at British school after operation to repair her skull

The Pakistani teenager nursed back to health in Britain after being gunned down by the Taliban returned to school yesterday.

Malala Yousafzai, 15, was shot in the head by extremists opposed to her campaign for girls' education.

She was attacked by gunmen who boarded her school bus in Pakistan last October.
Close to death, she was flown to Britain for treatment, and surgeons at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham saved her life.

From Pakistan to Birmingham: Malala Yousafzai, 15, was gunned down by the Taliban in revenge for her campaigning on girls' education, but began her studies at Edgbaston High School for Girls

She had a five-hour operation to fit a titanium plate over her damaged skull. She also had a cochlear implant fitted as her injuries had left her partially deaf.

She left hospital in January and yesterday started lessons at the fee-paying Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham.

She has joined Year 9 and will be studying a full curriculum in preparation for selecting her GCSE subjects.

'I am excited that today I have achieved my dream of going back to school,' she said. 'I want all girls in the world to have this basic opportunity. I miss my classmates from Pakistan very much but I am looking forward to meeting my teachers and making new friends here in Birmingham.'

Fresh start: Malala walked to school in Birmingham accompanied by her father, Ziauddin

Malala and her parents are now  rebuilding their lives after settling in Birmingham.

Her father has been appointed education attache at the Pakistan consulate in the city
Edgbaston High School is an independent day school for girls aged from two-and-a-half to 18. Founded in 1876, it is Birmingham's oldest independent girls' school.

The Pakistani government will be paying her £10,000 a year school fees.

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