A Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban unveiled the future for generations of Fife children at the weekend.
World-renowned education campaigner Malala Yousafzai performed the official opening of the new Burntisland Primary School, due to open next year.
The brave 16-year-old, targeted by the terror group for daring to speak out about girls’ rights to an education, impressed on youngsters the importance of being free to learn in a fair and just society.
As she carried out the “topping out” ceremony, Malala said the school would be much more than a building of bricks and mortar.
“This is our future,” she told her young audience. “Children will come here and they will learn how to read, write, about sciences, about maths, about history.
“They will learn about basic skills they will need in their lives. They will also learn manners, how to tolerate each other and they will learn about equality.”
Malala was just 15 when she was shot by a Taliban gunman as she travelled home from school by bus.
She almost died in the attack but, following specialist treatment in both Pakistan and Birmingham, she made a remarkable recovery and has continued her worldwide campaign for education for all.
She has spoken at the United Nations and has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
The teenager was invited to Burntisland by former Prime Minister and local MP Gordon Brown, who has supported Malala in his role as UN special envoy for global education.
Accompanied by her father Ziauddin, Malala was reunited for the first time with friends Shazia Ramzan and Kainat Riaz, who were also injured in last year’s gun attack.
She was given a hero’s welcome as she entered the draughty building still very much a building site with the 200-strong crowd rising to their feet in a standing ovation.
Smoothing the final piece of concrete on to a lintel to be placed in the school library which will bear her name, Malala told pupils and parents: “There will be no special bench for a rich child. The poor child will not have to sit on the floor.
“They will learn that they are equal. They will learn respect. They will learn justice.”
She added: “It’s a great honour for me to be here because this is my dream to see education of every child, to see girls not washing clothes in their houses in the morning, not washing dishes but to go to school.”
Malala was also presented with a desk inscribed with the words “Malala’s desk” the same words written on her desk at her school in Pakistan by former classmates determined to remember her.
Some 200 identical desks will be placed in schools across Fife in honour of the teenager’s visit.
Burntisland Primary pupils Joanne and James Barron and Connor Latimer also presented Malala, Shazia and Kainat with gifts including shawls in the UN tartan and dictionaries.
Gordon Brown said it was an honour to bring Malala to Fife during her first visit to Scotland.
Revealing Burntisland was the first school she had opened, he said: “It’s a real pleasure to have with us Malala Yousafzai, who is a champion of girls’ education throughout the world.
“It’s a privilege to have her lay the foundation stone of this school.
“Over the next few years I want to see investment that takes place in education give the best possible opportunities to the children of Fife, just as Malala wants to see every boy and girl in the world have the best possible access to education.”
Earlier in the day, Malala was presented with an honorary degree by Edinburgh University at the McEwan Hall, where 200 Fife school pupils heard her speak..embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; padding-top: 30px; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; height: auto; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }