I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3583 

To expand the number of scholarships available to Pakistani women under 

the Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 21, 2013 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself, Ms. GRANGER, and Mrs. LOWEY) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings: 


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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 doc6 umenting their crackdown on women’s rights and 

7 education 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 

13 16th birthday by delivering a speech before the 

14 United Nations General Assembly in which she said, 

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

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

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

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

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

20 (6) According to the United Nation’s 2012 

21 Education for All Global Monitoring Report, ‘‘Paki22 stan has the second largest number of children out 

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

24 females have never been to school.’’. 


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1 (7) According to a Council on Foreign Rela2 tions report titled ‘‘What Works in Girls’ Edu3 cation’’, ‘‘A 100-country study by the World Bank 

4 shows that increasing the share of women with a 

5 secondary education by 1 percent boosts annual per 

6 capita income 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 trans16 mit across generations, as well as to their commu17 nities at 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 

23 skills.’’. 

24 (10) In January 2010, Secretary of State Hil25 lary Rodham Clinton stated, ‘‘We will open the 


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1 doors of education to all citizens, but especially to 

2 girls and women . . . We are doing all of these 

3 things because we have seen that when women and 

4 girls have the tools to stay healthy and the oppor5 tunity to contribute to their families’ well-being, they 

6 flourish and so do the people around them.’’. 

7 (11) The United States provides critical foreign 

8 assistance to Pakistan’s education sector to improve 

9 access to and the quality of basic and higher edu10 cation. 

11 (12) The Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship 

12 Program administered by the United States Agency 

13 for International Development awards scholarships 

14 to academically talented, financially needy Pakistani 

15 students from remote regions of the country to pur16 sue bachelor’s or master’s degrees at participating 

17 Pakistani universities. 

18 (13) 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. 

23 (14) The United Nations declared July 12 as 

24 ‘‘Malala Day’’—a global day of support for and recVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:40 Nov 26, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3583.IH H3583

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1 ognition of Malala’s bravery and courage in pro2 moting women’s education. 

3 (15) On December 10, 2012, the United Na4 tions and the Government of Pakistan launched the 

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

6 girls’ access to education worldwide, with Pakistan 

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

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

9 world have signed the United Nations Special Envoy 

10 for Global Education petition calling on the Govern11 ment of Pakistan to enroll every boy and girl in pri12 mary school. 

13 (17) Pakistani civil society organizations col14 lected almost 2,000,000 signatures from Pakistanis 

15 on a petition dedicated to Malala’s cause of edu16 cation for all. 

17 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

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

19 (1) every individual should have the opportunity 

20 to pursue an education; 

21 (2) every individual, regardless of gender, 

22 should have the opportunity to pursue an education 

23 without fear of discrimination; and 

24 (3) educational exchanges promote institutional 

25 linkages between the United States and Pakistan. 


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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.—Using funding made available 

11 under section 6, the Administrator of the United States 

12 Agency for International Development (referred to in this 

13 Act as the ‘‘USAID Administrator’’) shall increase the 

14 number of scholarships to women under the Merit and 

15 Needs-Based Scholarship Program (referred to in this Act 

16 as the ‘‘Program’’) during each of the calendar years 2013 

17 through 2015 over the level awarded to women in calendar 

18 year 2011. 

19 (b) LIMITATIONS.— 

20 (1) CRITERIA.—The additional scholarships 

21 available under subsection (a) may only be awarded 

22 in accordance with other scholarship eligibility cri23 teria already established by USAID. 

24 (2) ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES.—Additional schol25 arships authorized under subsection (a) shall be 


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1 awarded for a range of disciplines to improve the 

2 employability of graduates and to meet the needs of 

3 the scholarship recipients. 

4 (3) OTHER SCHOLARSHIPS.—The USAID Ad5 ministrator shall make every effort to award 50 per6 cent of the scholarships available under the Program 

7 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, including a break20 down by gender; 

21 (2) the disciplines of study chosen by the schol22 arship recipients; 

23 (3) the percentage of the scholarships that were 

24 awarded to students seeking a bachelor’s degree or 

25 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. FUNDING. 

6 Of the amounts authorized to be appropriated for fis7 cal year 2014 pursuant to title I of the Enhanced Partner8 ship with Pakistan Act of 2009 (22 U.S.C. 8411 et seq.), 

9 $3,000,000 shall be made available for scholarships au10 thorized under section 4(a). 

Æ 


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