113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3583 

AN ACT 

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, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

3 Scholarship Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find6 ings: 

7 (1) On October 9, 2012, Malala Yousafzai was 

8 shot in the head by Pakistani Taliban on her way 

9 home from school. 

10 (2) In late 2008, Malala began writing a blog 

11 for BBC Urdu under a pseudonym pressing the case 

12 for access to education for women and girls despite 

13 objections from the Pakistani Taliban. 

14 (3) Malala’s advocacy for the education of 

15 women and girls made her a target of the Taliban. 

16 (4) The Taliban called Malala’s efforts to high17 light the need for education for women and girls an 

18 ‘‘obscenity’’. 

19 (5) On July 12, 2013, Malala celebrated her 

20 16th birthday by delivering a speech before the 

21 United Nations General Assembly in which she said, 

22 ‘‘So let us wage a glorious struggle against illiteracy, 

23 poverty, and terrorism. Let us pick up our books 

24 and our pens. They are the most powerful weapons. 

25 One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can 

26 change the world. Education is the only solution.’’. 
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1 (6) According to the United Nation’s 2012 

2 Education for All Global Monitoring Report, ‘‘Paki3 stan has the second largest number of children out 

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

5 females have never been to school.’’. 

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

7 of women’s education go beyond higher productivity 

8 for 50 percent of the population. More educated 

9 women also tend to be healthier, participate more in 

10 the formal labor market, earn more income, have 

11 fewer children, and provide better health care and 

12 education to their children, all of which eventually 

13 improve the well-being of all individuals and lift 

14 households out of poverty. These benefits also trans15 mit across generations, as well as to their commu16 nities at large.’’. 

17 (8) According to United Nation’s 2012 Edu18 cation For All Global Monitoring Report, ‘‘education 

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

20 Pakistan, women with a high level of literacy earned 

21 95 percent more than women with no literacy 

22 skills.’’. 

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

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

25 education to all citizens, but especially to girls and 
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1 women * * * We are doing all of these things be2 cause we have seen that when women and girls have 

3 the tools to stay healthy and the opportunity to con4 tribute to their families’’ well-being, they flourish 

5 and so do the people around them. 

6 (10) 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 (11) The Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship 

11 Program administered by the United States Agency 

12 for International Development (USAID) awards 

13 scholarships to academically talented, financially 

14 needy Pakistani students from all regions, including 

15 remote areas of the country, to pursue bachelor’s or 

16 master’s degrees at participating Pakistani univer17 sities. 

18 (12) Fifty percent of the 974 Merit and Needs19 Based Scholarships awarded during fiscal year 2013 

20 were awarded to Pakistani women. Historically, only 

21 25 percent of such scholarships have been awarded 

22 to women. Starting in the fall of 2013, USAID has 

23 committed to provide 50 percent of all scholarships 

24 to women. 
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1 (13) The United Nations declared July 12, 

2 2013, as ‘‘Malala Day’’—a global day of support for 

3 and recognition of Malala’s bravery and courage in 

4 promoting women’s education. 

5 (14) On October 10, 2014, Malala Yousafzai 

6 became the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for 

7 her ‘‘struggle against the suppression of children 

8 and young people and for the right of all children to 

9 education’’. 

10 (15) On December 10, 2012, the United Na11 tions and the Government of Pakistan launched the 

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

13 girls’ access to education worldwide, with Pakistan 

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

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

16 world have signed the United Nations Special Envoy 

17 for Global Education petition calling on the Govern18 ment of Pakistan to enroll every boy and girl in pri19 mary school. 

20 (17) Pakistani civil society organizations col21 lected almost 2,000,000 signatures from Pakistanis 

22 on a petition dedicated to Malala’s cause of edu23 cation for all. 

24 (18) Engagement with Pakistani diaspora com25 munities in the United States, who have unique per-
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1 spectives, access, and opportunities to contribute to 

2 stability and economic growth in Pakistan, will be a 

3 critical element of a successful United States pro4 gram to promote greater access to education for 

5 women and girls. 

6 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

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

8 (1) every individual should have the opportunity 

9 to pursue an education; 

10 (2) every individual, regardless of gender, 

11 should have the opportunity to pursue an education 

12 without fear of discrimination; 

13 (3) educational exchanges promote institutional 

14 linkages between the United States and Pakistan; 

15 and 

16 (4) recipients of scholarships referred to in sec17 tion 4 should commit to improving their local com18 munities. 

19 (b) CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR EDUCATIONAL INITIA20 TIVES IN PAKISTAN.—Congress encourages the Depart21 ment of State and the United States Agency for Inter22 national Development to continue their support for initia23 tives led by the Government of Pakistan and Pakistani 

24 civil society that promote education in Pakistan, especially 

25 education for women. 
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1 SEC. 4. MERIT AND NEEDS-BASED SCHOLARSHIP PRO2 GRAM. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the United 

4 States Agency for International Development (referred to 

5 in this Act as the ‘‘USAID Administrator’’) shall award 

6 at least 50 percent of the number of scholarships under 

7 the Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program (re8 ferred to in this Act as the ‘‘Program’’) to women for each 

9 of the calendar years 2014 through 2016. 

10 (b) LIMITATIONS.— 

11 (1) CRITERIA.—The scholarships available 

12 under subsection (a) may only be awarded in accord13 ance with other scholarship eligibility criteria already 

14 established by USAID. 

15 (2) ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES.—Scholarships au16 thorized under subsection (a) shall be awarded for a 

17 range of disciplines to improve the employability of 

18 graduates and to meet the needs of the scholarship 

19 recipients. 

20 (3) OTHER SCHOLARSHIPS.—The USAID Ad21 ministrator shall make every effort to award 50 per22 cent of the scholarships available under the Program 

23 to Pakistani women. 

24 (c) LEVERAGING INVESTMENT.—The USAID Ad25 ministrator shall, to the greatest extent practicable, con26 sult with and leverage investments by the Pakistani pri-
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1 vate sector and Pakistani diaspora communities in the 

2 United States as part of USAID’s greater effort to im3 prove the quality of, expand access to, and ensure sustain4 ability of education programs in Pakistan. 

5 SEC. 5. ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING. 

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

7 designate appropriate USAID officials to brief the appro8 priate congressional committees, not later than 1 year 

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

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

11 section 4. 

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

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

14 the most recently concluded fiscal year— 

15 (1) the total number of scholarships that were 

16 awarded through the Program, including a break17 down by gender; 

18 (2) the disciplines of study chosen by the schol19 arship recipients; 

20 (3) the percentage of the scholarships that were 

21 awarded to students seeking a bachelor’s degree or 

22 a master’s degree, respectively; 

23 (4) the percentage of scholarship recipients who 

24 voluntarily dropped out of school or were involun-
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1 tarily pushed out of the program for failure to meet 

2 program requirements; and 

3 (5) the percentage of scholarship recipients who 

4 dropped out of school due to retaliation for seeking 

5 an education, to the extent that such information is 

6 available. 

Passed the House of Representatives November 19, 

2014. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 
113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3583 

AN ACT 

To expand the number of scholarships available to 

Based Scholarship Program. Pakistani women under the Merit and Needs-