JAMES Gillespie’s High School in Edinburgh welcomed an unexpected visitor last week, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and women’s rights campaigner Malala Yousafzai.
Yousafzai visited the James Gillespie’s High School on short notice during a trip to Edinburgh on Wednesday, leaving and teachers and the city council scrambling to make preparations.
She made her way to the school to discuss her work with the school’s “incredible” students and visit the Malala Building, which was opened in 2015, for the first time.
After receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, Malala was given the slightly less auspicious honour of having the building, which houses the main teaching area and features 57 classroom spaces, at James Gillespie’s, named after her.
After more than a decade, the building has finally been christened by an official visit.
Malala was joined at James Gillespie’s by a group of Afghan medical students who fled from the Taliban’s oppression after the Islamist fundamentalist regime prevented them from finishing their studies.
They were given asylum in Scotland by the Linda Norgrove Foundation, and the Scottish Government changed their rules to allow them to stay and complete their training.
Afghan women studying medicine in Scotland met with Kirsty McNeill, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland at Queen Elizabeth House in August 2025
During the same trip last week, Malala met with First Minister John Swinney to discuss the Taliban’s systematic exclusion of women and girls and joined calls for gender apartheid to be recognised as a crime under international law.
Malala thanked Edinburgh for a “wonderful day”, and her team described the visit as a “powerful reminder of everything at stake”.
Malala, however, appears to have taken staff at James Gillespie’s off-guard, with the visit being confirmed at the eleventh hour.
In an email sent to parents, headteacher Neil McCallum said: “We had an unexpected visit from Malala Yousafzai this week.
“This was a surprise visit, organised very late in the day. It was lovely for her to have the opportunity to meet with 12 of our amazing young people.
“She then had a brief tour around the Malala Yousafzai building, before heading to her next appointment. We were grateful to have had the opportunity to welcome her to the school.”
Education, Children and Families Convenor, James Dalgleish made his way to the school to welcome the visiting laureate.
Speaking after the visit, he said: “It was fantastic to welcome Malala to James Gillespies High School last week and to show her the school building named after her.
“I have no doubt that Malala and the Afgan medical students will have inspired our young people during what was a really special and memorable visit.”
On Sunday, Malala confirmed the visit on social media and shared a handful of pictures with beaming pupils and sun-soaked city landmarks.
In the caption, she added: “Back in beautiful Edinburgh! Last week I visited James Gillespie’s High School and talked with their incredible students.
“I also met Afghan medical students who were studying to become doctors when the Taliban closed their classrooms. They are here now, finishing their education, because Scotland welcomed them.
“Thank you Edinburgh for a wonderful day!”
Malala, now 28, was shot in the head by the Taliban on a school bus in Pakistan’s Swat Valley in October 2012, aged 15, after years of activism for girls’ right to education. She survived and was flown to the UK for treatment.
In 2014, she became the youngest Nobel Prize laureate in history, receiving the Peace Prize at age 17.
She has since spoken out for the millions of Afghan girls banned by the Taliban from going to secondary school, sharing their stories and calling for an end to gender apartheid.
In a statement, the Malala Fund, her official charity, said: “This week in Scotland, Malala paid a surprise visit to James Gillespie’s High School, where she saw the building named after her, met with students and the school’s leadership team.
“She was joined by Afghan medical students who are now in Scotland to finish their degrees; they were just months from becoming doctors when the Taliban banned them from their classrooms.
“In one room: girls learning freely, and women who had that right taken from them. It was a powerful reminder of everything at stake.
“When girls are locked out of education, they lose the chance to shape their own futures; their communities lose the doctors, leaders and changemakers they would have become.”
They added: “The Linda Norgrove Foundation brought these Afghan students to Scotland, and the Scottish Government changed its regulations to give them free tuition and home student status.
“Established in memory of Linda Norgrove, who was devoted to Afghanistan’s future, the Foundation supports education, health and opportunity for women and children in Afghanistan.
“This is what solidarity looks like when it becomes action.”
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