Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1696585009260.pdf (United States)
IIB 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 4508 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 4, 2020 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations AN ACT To expand the number of scholarships available to Pakistani women under the Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program.
1 2 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled SECTION 1.

SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act’’.

SEC.

2.

FINDINGS.
SEC.

2.

FINDINGS.

Congress makes the following findings: (1) In late 2008, Malala Yousafzai began mak- ing the case for access to education for women and girls despite objections from the Pakistani Taliban.

On October 9, 2012, Malala was shot in the head by Pakistani Taliban on her way home from school.

(2) In 2013, Malala Yousafzai and her father Ziauddin Yousafzai co-founded the Malala Fund.

The Malala Fund works to secure 12 years of free, safe, and quality education for all girls.
Completion of a full 12-year cycle of primary and secondary edu- cation ensures a pipeline of girls able to pursue higher education.

(3) On July 12, 2013, Malala delivered a speech before the United Nations General Assembly calling for expanded access to education for women and girls across the globe.

She said, ‘‘[L]et us wage a glorious struggle against illiteracy, poverty, and terrorism.

Let us pick up our books and our pens.

They are the most powerful weapons * * *.


Edu- cation is the only solution.’’.


1 HR 4508 RFS (4) On October 10, 2014, Malala Yousafzai be- came the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for her ‘‘struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education’’.
(5) According to the United Nations 2016 Global Education Monitoring Report, more than 130 million girls worldwide are out of school.

15 million girls of primary-school age will never enter a class- room.

As of 2016, at least 500 million adult women across the globe are illiterate.

(6) According to the World Bank, ‘‘Girls’ edu- cation is a strategic development priority.
Better educated women tend to be healthier, participate more in the formal labor market, earn higher in- comes, * * * marry at a later age, and enable better health care and education for their children, should they choose to become mothers.

All these factors combined can help lift households, communities, and nations out of poverty.’’.
(7) In 2015, all United Nations Member States, including the United States, adopted quality edu- cation, including access to higher education, and gender equality as sustainable development goals to be attained by 2030.
One of the education goal tar- HR 4508 RFS gets is to ‘‘ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university’’.
(8) In January 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton stated, ‘‘We will open the doors of education to all citizens, but especially to girls and women * * *.

We are doing all of these things be- cause we have seen that when women and girls have the tools to stay healthy and the opportunity to con- tribute to their families’’ well-being, they flourish and so do the people around them.
(9) In February 2019, the White House launched the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative to advance women’s economic empowerment across the globe and reach more than 100,000 women.

(10) The World Economic Forum ranks Paki- stan the second lowest among all countries in the world evaluated for gender equality.

On educational attainment for women, Pakistan is ranked the tenth lowest.
(11) In Pakistan, the rate of higher education enrollment beyond high school for girls and women is just 9 percent as reported by the World Bank.

The global rate is 40 percent.


Less than 6 percent HR 4508 RFS of women 25 and older in Pakistan attain a bach- elor’s degree or equivalent as of 2016.
(12) Factors such as poverty, early marriage, disability, ethnicity, and religion can contribute to the lack of educational opportunities for women in marginalized communities.

(13) According to the World Bank, ‘‘Higher education benefits both individuals and society.

Eco- nomic returns for college graduates are the highest in the entire educational system—an average 17 per- cent increase in earnings per year of schooling as compared with 10 percent for primary school.’’.
(14) The United States provides critical foreign assistance to Pakistan’s education sector to improve access to and the quality of basic and higher edu- cation.

Since 2010, the United States Agency for International Development (referred to in this Act as ‘‘USAID’’) has awarded more than 6,000 scholar- ships for young women to receive higher education in Pakistan.
(15) The Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program administered by USAID awards scholar- ships to academically talented, financially needy Pakistani students from all regions, including female students from rural areas of the country, to pursue HR 4508 RFS bachelor’s or master’s degrees at participating Paki- stani universities.
SEC.

3.

SENSE OF CONGRESS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—It is the sense of Congress that— (1) every individual should have the opportunity to pursue a full cycle of primary, secondary, and higher education; (2) every individual, regardless of gender, socio- economic status, ethnicity, or religion should have the opportunity to pursue an education without fear of discrimination; (3) educational exchanges promote institutional linkages between the United States and Pakistan; and (4) recipients of scholarships referred to in sec- tion 4 should commit to improving their local com- munities.
(b) CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR EDUCATIONAL INITIA- TIVES IN PAKISTAN.—Congress encourages the Depart- ment of State and USAID to continue their support for initiatives led by the Government of Pakistan and civil so- ciety that promote education in Pakistan, especially edu- cation for women, in accordance with USAID’s 2018 Edu- cation Policy.
HR 4508 RFS SEC.

4.

MERIT AND NEEDS-BASED SCHOLARSHIP PRO- GRAM.

(a) IN GENERAL.—The USAID Administrator shall award at least 50 percent of the number of scholarships under the Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Program’’) to women for each of the calendar years 2020 through 2022.
(b) LIMITATIONS.— (1) CRITERIA.—The scholarships available under subsection (a) may only be awarded in accord- ance with other scholarship eligibility criteria already established by USAID.

(2) ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES.—Scholarships au- thorized under subsection (a) shall be awarded for a range of disciplines to improve the employability of graduates and to meet the needs of the scholarship recipients.
(3) OTHER SCHOLARSHIPS.—The USAID Ad- ministrator shall make every effort to award 50 per- cent of the scholarships available under the Program to Pakistani women.
(c) LEVERAGING INVESTMENT.—The USAID Ad- ministrator shall, to the greatest extent practicable, con- sult with and leverage investments by the Pakistani pri- vate sector and Pakistani diaspora communities in the United States as part of USAID’s greater effort to im- 26 HR 4508 RFS prove the quality of, expand access to, and ensure sustain- ability of education programs in Pakistan.
SEC.

5.

ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING.

(a) IN GENERAL.—The USAID Administrator shall designate appropriate USAID officials to brief the appro- priate congressional committees, not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for the next 3 years, on the implementation of section 4.
(b) CONTENTS.—The briefing described in subsection (a) shall include, among other relevant information, for the most recently concluded fiscal year— (1) the total number of scholarships that were awarded through the Program, including a break- down by gender; (2) the disciplines of study chosen by the schol- arship recipients; (3) the percentage of the scholarships that were awarded to students seeking a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree, respectively; (4) the percentage of scholarship recipients who voluntarily dropped out of school or were involun- tarily pushed out of the program for failure to meet program requirements; and HR 4508 RFS (5) the percentage of scholarship recipients who dropped out of school due to retaliation for seeking an education, to the extent that such information is available.
Passed the House of Representatives March 3, 2020.

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk HR 4508 RFS