II 

Calendar No. 217 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 120 

A bill to expand the number of scholarships available to Pakistani women 

under the Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 23 (legislative day, JANUARY 3), 2013 

Mrs. BOXER (for herself, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. COONS, Mr. MENENDEZ, and 

Mrs. SHAHEEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

OCTOBER 10, 2013 

Reported by Mr. MENENDEZ, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

A bill to expand the number of scholarships available to 

Pakistani women under the Merit and Needs-Based 

Scholarship Program. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Malala Yousafzai 

5 Scholarship Act’ ’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find3 ings: 

4 (1) On October 9, 2012, 15-year-old Malala 

5 Yousafzai was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen 

6 in Pakistan on her way home from school. 

7 (2) When Malala was 11 years old, she bravely 

8 stood up to the Taliban and wrote a secret blog doc9 umenting their crackdown on women’s rights and 

10 education in 2009. 

11 (3) Malala’s advocacy for women’s education 

12 made her a target of the Taliban. 

13 (4) The Taliban called Malala’s efforts to high14 light the need for women’s education an ‘‘obscenity’’. 

15 (5) According to the United Nation’s 2012 

16 Education for All Global Monitoring Report, ‘‘Paki17 stan has the second largest number of children out 

18 of school [in the world]’’ and ‘‘nearly half of rural 

19 females have never been to school.’’. 

20 (6) According to a Council on Foreign Rela21 tions report titled ‘‘What Works in Girls’ Edu22 cation’’, ‘‘A 100-country study by the World Bank 

23 shows that increasing the share of women with a 

24 secondary education by 1 percent boosts annual per 

25 capita income growth by 0.3 percentage points.’’. 

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1 (7) According to the World Bank, ‘‘The benefits 

2 of women’s education go beyond higher productivity 

3 for 50 percent of the population. More educated 

4 women also tend to be healthier, participate more in 

5 the formal labor market, earn more income, have 

6 fewer children, and provide better health care and 

7 education to their children, all of which eventually 

8 improve the well-being of all individuals and lift 

9 households out of poverty. These benefits also trans10 mit across generations, as well as to their commu11 nities at large.’’. 

12 (8) According to United Nation’s 2012 Edu13 cation For All Global Monitoring Report, ‘‘education 

14 can make a big difference to women’s earnings. In 

15 Pakistan, women with a high level of literacy earned 

16 95 percent more than women with no literacy 

17 skills.’’. 

18 (9) In January 2010, Secretary of State Hillary 

19 Rodham Clinton stated, ‘‘We will open the doors of 

20 education to all citizens, but especially to girls and 

21 women . . . We are doing all of these things because 

22 we have seen that when women and girls have the 

23 tools to stay healthy and the opportunity to con24 tribute to their families’ well-being, they flourish and 

25 so do the people around them.’’. 

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1 (10) The United States provides critical foreign 

2 assistance to Pakistan’s education sector to improve 

3 access to and the quality of basic and higher edu4 cation. 

5 (11) The Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship 

6 Program administered by the United States Agency 

7 for International Development awards scholarships 

8 to academically talented, financially needy Pakistani 

9 students from remote regions of the country to pur10 sue bachelor’s or master’s degrees at participating 

11 Pakistani universities. 

12 (12) Twenty-five percent of the 1,807 Merit 

13 and Needs-Based Scholarships awarded to date have 

14 been for women, with the goal of awarding 50 per15 cent of the scholarships for fall 2013 matriculation 

16 to women. 

17 (13) The United Nations declared November 10 

18 as ‘‘Malala Day’’—a global day of support for and 

19 recognition of Malala’s bravery and courage in pro20 moting women’s education. 

21 (14) On December 10, 2012, the United Na22 tions and the Government of Pakistan launched the 

23 ‘‘Malala Fund for Girls’ Education’’ to improve 

24 girls’ access to education worldwide, with Pakistan 

25 donating the first $10,000,000 to the Fund. 

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1 (15) The Government of Pakistan has stated 

2 that it plans to open 16 schools for poor children in 

3 areas affected by conflict or natural disasters and 

4 name them ‘‘Malala Schools’’ after Malala 

5 Yousafzai. 

6 (16) The Government of Pakistan, the United 

7 Nations, the World Bank, and other international 

8 organizations have set an April 2013 deadline to put 

9 forward a plan to provide education for all of Paki10 stan’s school-aged children by the end of 2015. 

11 (17) More than 1,000,000 people around the 

12 world have signed the United Nations Special Envoy 

13 for Global Education petition calling on the Govern14 ment of Pakistan to enroll every boy and girl in pri15 mary school. 

16 (18) Pakistani civil society organizations col17 lected an additional 1,200,000 signatures from Paki18 stanis on a petition dedicated to Malala’s cause. 

19 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—It is the sense of Congress that— 

21 (1) education and freedom from discrimination 

22 are fundamental human rights; and 

23 (2) educational exchanges increase people-to24 people ties and promote institutional linkages be25 tween the United States and other countries. 

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1 (b) CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR EDUCATIONAL INITIA2 TIVES IN PAKISTAN.—Congress encourages the Depart3 ment of State and the United States Agency for Inter4 national Development to continue their support for initia5 tives led by the Government of Pakistan and Pakistani 

6 civil society that promote education in Pakistan, especially 

7 education for women. 

8 SEC. 4. MERIT AND NEEDS-BASED SCHOLARSHIP PRO9 GRAM. 

10 (a) EXPANSION.—The USAID Administrator shall 

11 increase the number of scholarships available under the 

12 Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program (referred to 

13 in this Act as the ‘‘Program’’) administered by the United 

14 States Agency for International Development (referred to 

15 in this Act as ‘‘USAID’’) during each of the fiscal years 

16 2013 through 2016 by 30 percent compared to the num17 ber of scholarships awarded during fiscal year 2012. 

18 (b) LIMITATIONS.— 

19 (1) WOMEN.—The additional scholarships avail20 able under subsection (a) may only be awarded to 

21 women, in accordance with other scholarship eligi22 bility criteria already established by USAID. 

23 (2) ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES.—Additional schol24 arships added by subsection (a) shall be awarded for 

25 a range of disciplines to improve the employability of 

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1 graduates and to meet the needs of the scholarship 

2 recipients. 

3 (3) OTHER SCHOLARSHIPS.—The USAID Ad4 ministrator shall make every effort to award 50 per5 cent of the scholarships available under the Program 

6 (excluding the additional scholarships available 

7 under subsection (a)) to Pakistani women. 

8 SEC. 5. ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The USAID Administrator shall 

10 designate appropriate USAID officials to brief the appro11 priate congressional committees, not later than 1 year 

12 after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually 

13 thereafter for the next 3 years, on the implementation of 

14 section 4. 

15 (b) CONTENTS.—The briefing described in subsection 

16 (a) shall include, among other relevant information, for 

17 the most recently concluded fiscal year— 

18 (1) the total number of scholarships that were 

19 awarded through the Program; 

20 (2) the disciplines of study chosen by the schol21 arship recipients; 

22 (3) the percentage of the scholarships that were 

23 awarded to students seeking a bachelor’s degree or 

24 a master’s degree, respectively; and 

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1 (4) the percentage of scholarship recipients that 

2 voluntarily dropped out of school or were involun3 tarily pushed out of the program for failure to meet 

4 program requirements. 

5 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

6 (a) TRANSFER OF SECURITY ASSISTANCE FUND7 ING.—Of the amounts appropriated for fiscal years 2013 

8 and 2014 pursuant to the authorization under title II of 

9 the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009 

10 (Public Law 111–73), $400,000 shall be made available 

11 in each of the fiscal years 2013 and 2014 for the Program. 

12 (b) FUNDING FOR ADDITIONAL SCHOLARSHIPS FOR

13 PAKISTANI WOMEN.—Of the amounts appropriated for 

14 fiscal years 2015 and 2016 for the purpose of providing 

15 assistance to Pakistan under the Foreign Assistance Act 

16 of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), $400,000 shall be made 

17 available in each of the fiscal years 2015 and 2016 for 

18 the Program. 

19 (c) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts made available in sub20 sections (a) and (b) shall remain available until expended. 

21 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

22 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Malala Yousafzai Schol23 arship Act’ ’’. 

24 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

25 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following findings: 

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1 (1) On October 9, 2012, 15-year-old Malala 

2 Yousafzai was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen 

3 in Pakistan on her way home from school. 

4 (2) When Malala was 11 years old, she bravely 

5 stood up to the Taliban and wrote a secret blog docu6 menting their crackdown on women’s rights and edu7 cation in 2009. 

8 (3) Malala’s advocacy for women’s education 

9 made her a target of the Taliban. 

10 (4) The Taliban called Malala’s efforts to high11 light the need for women’s education an ‘‘obscenity’’. 

12 (5) On July 12, 2013, Malala celebrated her 16th 

13 birthday by delivering a speech before the United Na14 tions General Assembly in which she said, ‘‘So let us 

15 wage a glorious struggle against illiteracy, poverty, 

16 and terrorism. Let us pick up our books and our 

17 pens. They are the most powerful weapons. One child, 

18 one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the 

19 world. Education is the only solution.’’. 

20 (6) According to the United Nation’s 2012 Edu21 cation for All Global Monitoring Report, ‘‘Pakistan 

22 has the second largest number of children out of school 

23 [in the world]’’ and ‘‘nearly half of rural females have 

24 never been to school.’’. 

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10 

•S 120 RS

1 (7) According to a Council on Foreign Relations 

2 report titled ‘‘What Works in Girls’ Education’’, ‘‘A 

3 100-country study by the World Bank shows that in4 creasing the share of women with a secondary edu5 cation by 1 percent boosts annual per capita income 

6 growth by 0.3 percentage points.’’. 

7 (8) According to the World Bank, ‘‘The benefits 

8 of women’s education go beyond higher productivity 

9 for 50 percent of the population. More educated 

10 women also tend to be healthier, participate more in 

11 the formal labor market, earn more income, have 

12 fewer children, and provide better health care and 

13 education to their children, all of which eventually 

14 improve the well-being of all individuals and lift 

15 households out of poverty. These benefits also transmit 

16 across generations, as well as to their communities at 

17 large.’’. 

18 (9) According to United Nation’s 2012 Edu19 cation For All Global Monitoring Report, ‘‘education 

20 can make a big difference to women’s earnings. In 

21 Pakistan, women with a high level of literacy earned 

22 95 percent more than women with no literacy skills.’’. 

23 (10) In January 2010, Secretary of State Hil24 lary Rodham Clinton stated, ‘‘We will open the doors 

25 of education to all citizens, but especially to girls and 

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•S 120 RS

1 women...We are doing all of these things because we 

2 have seen that when women and girls have the tools 

3 to stay healthy and the opportunity to contribute to 

4 their families’ well-being, they flourish and so do the 

5 people around them.’’. 

6 (11) The United States provides critical foreign 

7 assistance to Pakistan’s education sector to improve 

8 access to and the quality of basic and higher edu9 cation. 

10 (12) The Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship 

11 Program administered by the United States Agency 

12 for International Development awards scholarships to 

13 academically talented, financially needy Pakistani 

14 students from remote regions of the country to pursue 

15 bachelor’s or master’s degrees at participating Paki16 stani universities. 

17 (13) Fifty percent of the 974 Merit and Needs18 Based Scholarships awarded during fiscal year 2013 

19 were awarded to Pakistani women. Historically, only 

20 25 percent of such scholarships have been awarded to 

21 women. 

22 (14) The United Nations declared July 12 as 

23 ‘‘Malala Day’’—a global day of support for and rec24 ognition of Malala’s bravery and courage in pro25 moting women’s education. 

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1 (15) On December 10, 2012, the United Nations 

2 and the Government of Pakistan launched the 

3 ‘‘Malala Fund for Girls’ Education’’ to improve girls’ 

4 access to education worldwide, with Pakistan donat5 ing the first $10,000,000 to the Fund. 

6 (16) More than 1,000,000 people around the 

7 world have signed the United Nations Special Envoy 

8 for Global Education petition calling on the Govern9 ment of Pakistan to enroll every boy and girl in pri10 mary school. 

11 (17) Pakistani civil society organizations col12 lected almost 2,000,000 signatures from Pakistanis on 

13 a petition dedicated to Malala’s cause of education for 

14 all. 

15 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—It is the sense of Congress that— 

17 (1) every individual should have the opportunity 

18 to pursue an education; 

19 (2) every individual, regardless of gender, should 

20 have the opportunity to pursue an education without 

21 fear of discrimination; and 

22 (3) educational exchanges increase people-to-peo23 ple ties and promote institutional linkages between 

24 the United States and other countries. 

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1 (b) CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR EDUCATIONAL INITIA2 TIVES IN PAKISTAN.—The Senate encourages the Depart3 ment of State and the United States Agency for Inter4 national Development to continue their support for initia5 tives led by the Government of Pakistan and Pakistani civil 

6 society that promote education in Pakistan, especially edu7 cation for women. 

8 SEC. 4. MERIT AND NEEDS-BASED SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM. 

9 (a) EXPANSION.—Using funding made available under 

10 section 6, the Administrator of the United States Agency 

11 for International Development (referred to in this Act as 

12 the ‘‘USAID Administrator’’) shall increase the number of 

13 scholarships to women under the Merit and Needs-Based 

14 Scholarship Program (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Pro15 gram’’) during each of the calendar years 2013 through 

16 2015 over the level awarded to women in calendar year 

17 2011. 

18 (b) LIMITATIONS.— 

19 (1) CRITERIA.—The additional scholarships 

20 available under subsection (a) may only be awarded 

21 in accordance with other scholarship eligibility cri22 teria already established by USAID. 

23 (2) ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES.—Additional schol24 arships authorized under subsection (a) shall be 

25 awarded for a range of disciplines to improve the emmstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 ployability of graduates and to meet the needs of the 

2 scholarship recipients. 

3 (3) OTHER SCHOLARSHIPS.—The USAID Ad4 ministrator shall make every effort to award 50 per5 cent of the scholarships available under the Program 

6 to Pakistani women. 

7 SEC. 5. ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The USAID Administrator shall 

9 designate appropriate USAID officials to brief the appro10 priate congressional committees, not later than 1 year after 

11 the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter 

12 for the next 3 years, on the implementation of section 4. 

13 (b) CONTENTS.—The briefing described in subsection 

14 (a) shall include, among other relevant information, for the 

15 most recently concluded fiscal year— 

16 (1) the total number of scholarships that were 

17 awarded through the Program; 

18 (2) the disciplines of study chosen by the scholar19 ship recipients; 

20 (3) the percentage of the scholarships that were 

21 awarded to students seeking a bachelor’s degree or a 

22 master’s degree, respectively; and 

23 (4) the percentage of scholarship recipients that 

24 voluntarily dropped out of school or were involunmstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 tarily pushed out of the program for failure to meet 

2 program requirements. 

3 SEC. 6. FUNDING. 

4 Of the amounts that have been appropriated for assist5 ance to Pakistan under the heading ‘‘Economic Support 

6 Fund’’ pursuant to chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign As7 sistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq.) and remain 

8 unobligated as of the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

9 Secretary of State shall make available not less than 

10 $3,000,000 for scholarships authorized under section 4(a). 

11 Amounts made available under this section shall remain 

12 available until expended. 

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Calendar No. 217 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 120 

A BILL 

A bill to expand the number of scholarships availNeeds-Based Scholarship Program. able to Pakistani women under the Merit and 

OCTOBER 10, 2013 

Reported with an amendment 

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