Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani girl shot by Taliban, in school (VIDEO)

Malala Yousafzai returned to school today for the first time since Taliban gunmen shot the Pakistani schoolgirl in the head.

The 15-year-old Grade 9 student started classes at Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham, England, near the hospital that repaired her skull, Reuters reported.

“I am excited that today I have achieved my dream of going back to school. I want all girls in the world to have this basic opportunity,” she said, according to Reuters.

The gunmen shot Malala as she returned home from school last October in Pakistan’s Swat valley.

The Taliban targeted her for promoting “Western thinking.” She has long championed education rights for girls.

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The bullet hit near her left eye, traveled along her jaw and grazed her brain, Sky News said.

Pakistani doctors removed the bullet, but she was flown to Birmingham, England, for additional care.

Doctors there inserted a titanium plate in her skull and fitted her with a cochlear implant.

Malala told BBC that she’s now excited to study law and politics.

School principal Ruth Weekes said Malala will thrive with a regular routine.

“She wants to be a normal teenage girl and to have the support of other girls around,” Weekes told BBC.

“Talking to her, I know that’s something she missed during her time in hospital.”

Malala has remained in the UK after the Pakistani consulate in Birmingham appointed her father, Ziauddin, its education attache.

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