The 16-year-old who survived being shot as she boarded her school bus in the valley of Swat in northwest Pakistan a year ago told the BBC's Panorama that UK teenagers don't realise how 'precious' a proper education is.
When asked whether UK girls take their education for granted, she said: 'Yes, I believe that, I want to tell the students of UK to think that it is very precious, it's very prestigious, go to school.
Outspoken: Malala, who will be shown receiving a
Pride of Britain Award from David Beckham on ITV tonight (pictured),
has said that UK girls take their education for granted
'Reading a book, having a pen in our hands, studying, sitting in a classroom is something very special for us because once we were deprived from it and because what we have seen in Swat.'
Her comments come as she received a Pride of Britain Award from David Beckham after being nominated by thousands of members of the public for standing up to terrorists.
Malala told the Panorama special, Malala: Shot For Going To School, that being born into a society that did not value girls made early life tough for her.
She said: 'When I was born, some of our relatives came to our house and told my mother, don't worry, next time you will have a son.'
Courageous: Malala, pictured here speaking to Panorama, miraculously survived being shot in the head in Pakistan a year ago
'For my brothers it was easy to think about the future, they can be anything they want. But for me it was hard and for that reason, I wanted to become educated and I wanted to empower myself with knowledge.'
In January 2008 the Taliban, who controlled the region where Malala lived, declared that girls would no longer be allowed to go to school.
Girls who continued to attend class were subjected to acid attacks and abuse and some were even killed as a punishment.
Recovery: Malala was shot after her outspoken
views on education for girls after she continued to attend class despite
a Taliban ban in her area. She is pictured with her father Ziauddin
Malala told the programme that continuing to attend school made her 'afraid of my future'.
Despite her fears and with her father Ziauddin's backing Malala kept an online diary and did interviews with journalists to encourage girls to seek education - but it also made her a target.
She does not remember being shot on October 9 last year - but her horrified friends recall that the Taliban asked for Malala by name before shooting her. Everything, from schoolbooks to clothes, were soaked in blood and Malala's survival was nothing short of a miracle.
The schoolgirl has described how she told her friend not to worry before she was shot because the Taliban 'have never come for a small girl'.
Her autobiography, I Am Malala, describes how the gunman fired three shots at her.
In excerpts from her autobiography, published in Parade magazine, she wrote: 'Some of the girls screamed. [Best friend] Moniba tells me I squeezed her hand.
'My friends say he fired three shots. The first went through my left eye socket and out under my left shoulder.
'I slumped forward onto Moniba, blood coming from my left ear, so the other two bullets hit the girls next to me... My friends later told me the gunman's hand was shaking as he fired.'
She travelled to Britain for treatment but her injuries were so bad that her father Ziauddin asked relatives to start arranging her funeral.
Despite being an anti-Taliban activist, he never believed they would target a child.
He said: 'They flogged adult girls but they never killed children. We really didn't expect because we thought that they might have some values, terrorists might have some code of conduct.'
Malala slowly pulled through after being transferred to an army cardiology hospital with better intensive care.
She now lives in Birmingham with her family and started at Edgbaston High School for Girls back in March. She is determined to keep in touch with her Pashtun culture, believing that it teaches patience, peace and religious tolerance.
In hospital: Malala was treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham after the bullet went through her left eye
Support: She and her family, including father Ziauddin and her two younger brothers now live in Birmingham
After she was presented with the award by former England captain Beckham, she said: 'It is such an honour to receive this award. It will help me continue my campaign.'
Her courage has won her many admirers around the world and she even delivered a speech to the UN on her 16th birthday.
She has been invited to a reception for Youth, Education and the Commonwealth, being hosted by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, at Buckingham Palace later this month. It is thought the Queen was impressed by her bravery.
Her courage has even seen her tipped for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Malala told Panorama: 'If I win Nobel Peace Prize, it would be a great opportunity for me, but if I don't get it, it's not important because my goal is not to get Nobel Peace Prize, my goal is to get peace and my goal is to see education of every child.'
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