Malala: My teacher took me out of class to tell me I'd won the Nobel Prize

The 17-year-old, who was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 for advocating girls' right to education, is the youngest winner of the award, which she shared with Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian campaigner against child trafficking and labour.

"I was totally sure I hadn't won it but then suddenly one of my teachers came to the class and she called me and she said 'I have something important to tell you'," said Malala in Birmingham, where she now lives and attends school.

"I was totally surprised when she told me, 'Congratulations, you have won the Nobel Peace Prize and you are sharing it with a great person who is also working for children's rights'."

Yousafzai said winning the Nobel Prize had strengthened her desire to campaign for the right of all children to an education.

"It's sometimes quite difficult to express your feelings but I felt really honoured, I felt more powerful and more courageous because this award is not just a piece of metal or a medal that you would wear, or an award that you would keep in your room," she said. "I have received this award but this is not the end. This is not the end of this campaign which I have started. I think this is really the beginning. I want to see every child going to school."

Malala said she has abandoned plans to become a doctor and had now decided to become "a politician, a good politician".

Recalling the 2012 attack at her home in Pakistan, she said: "At that time I stood up for my rights and I said 'I will speak up'. I did not wait for someone else."

Unable to return to Pakistan after her recovery from the attack, Yousafzai set up the Malala Fund to support local education advocacy groups.

Yousafzai said she had spoken by phone yesterday evening with Satyarthi (60), the first Indian-born winner of the accolade, and both had agreed to work together to do what they could to ensure every child received a quality education.

"I believe that the Nobel committee, they haven't given it just to me, but this award is for all those children who are voiceless, whose voices need to be heard," she said.

Yousafzai said she had agreed with Satyarthi to invite the prime ministers of India and Pakistan to attend the prize ceremony in December to help ease escalating tensions between their two countries.

There were scenes of jubilation in her home town in Pakistan's Swat Valley as her former teachers, classmates and relatives celebrated the award for her defiance in campaigning for the right of girls to go to school.

Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan's prime minister, said Malala was "the pride of Pakistan" and had "made her countrymen proud". "Her achievement is unparalleled and unequalled. Girls and boys of the world should take the lead from her struggle and commitment," he said.

She shares the award with Mr Satyarthi, the veteran crusader against child labour in India, who has staged raids on clothing sweatshops, carpet weavers and waste recyclers who employ children as bonded labour, often in conditions of slavery. Many of India's child labourers are sold by their families.

A spokesman for Malala said her old school would hold a celebration in her honour on Monday.

There was some opposition to the award however. Kashif Mirza, Pakistan Private Schools Federation (APPSF) president, said his group would stage a protest and said Malala should be banned as "an insult to Islam".

The Pakistan army last month said it had arrested 10 Taliban militants involved in her attempted assassination.