I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4508 

To expand the number of scholarships available to Pakistani women under 

the Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 26, 2019 

Mr. JEFFRIES (for himself and Mrs. WAGNER) 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 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) In late 2008, Malala Yousafzai began mak9 ing the case for access to education for women and 

10 girls despite objections from the Pakistani Taliban. 


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1 On October 9, 2012, Malala was shot in the head by 

2 Pakistani Taliban on her way home from school. 

3 (2) In 2013, Malala Yousafzai and her father 

4 Ziauddin Yousafzai co-founded the Malala Fund. 

5 The Malala Fund works to secure twelve years of 

6 free, safe, and quality education for all girls. Com7 pletion of a full twelve-year cycle of primary and sec8 ondary education ensures a pipeline of girls able to 

9 pursue higher education. 

10 (3) On July 12, 2013, Malala delivered a 

11 speech before the United Nations General Assembly 

12 calling for expanded access to education for women 

13 and girls across the globe. She said, ‘‘[L]et us wage 

14 a glorious struggle against illiteracy, poverty, and 

15 terrorism. Let us pick up our books and our pens. 

16 They are the most powerful weapons . . . Education 

17 is the only solution.’’. 

18 (4) On October 10, 2014, Malala Yousafzai be19 came the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for 

20 her ‘‘struggle against the suppression of children 

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

22 education’’. 

23 (5) According to the United Nations 2016 

24 Global Education Monitoring Report, more than 130 

25 million girls worldwide are out of school. 15 million 


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1 girls of primary-school age will never enter a class2 room. As of 2016, at least 500 million adult women 

3 across the globe are illiterate. 

4 (6) According to the World Bank, ‘‘Girls’ edu5 cation is a strategic development priority. Better 

6 educated women tend to be healthier, participate 

7 more in the formal labor market, earn higher in8 comes, . . . marry at a later age, and enable better 

9 health care and education for their children, should 

10 they choose to become mothers. All these factors 

11 combined can help lift households, communities, and 

12 nations out of poverty.’’. 

13 (7) In 2015, all United Nations Member States, 

14 including the United States, adopted quality edu15 cation, including access to higher education, and 

16 gender equality as sustainable development goals to 

17 be attained by 2030. One of the education goal tar18 gets is to ‘‘ensure equal access for all women and 

19 men to affordable and quality technical, vocational 

20 and tertiary education, including university’’. 

21 (8) In January 2010, Secretary of State Hillary 

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

23 education to all citizens, but especially to girls and 

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

25 we have seen that when women and girls have the 


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1 tools to stay healthy and the opportunity to con2 tribute to their families’’ well-being, they flourish 

3 and so do the people around them. 

4 (9) In February 2019, the White House 

5 launched the Women’s Global Development and 

6 Prosperity Initiative to advance women’s economic 

7 empowerment across the globe and reach more than 

8 100,000 women. 

9 (10) The World Economic Forum ranks Paki10 stan the second lowest among all countries in the 

11 world evaluated for gender equality. On educational 

12 attainment for women, Pakistan is ranked the tenth 

13 lowest. 

14 (11) In Pakistan, the rate of higher education 

15 enrollment beyond high school for girls and women 

16 is just 9 percent as reported by the World Bank. 

17 The global rate is 40 percent. Less than 6 percent 

18 of women 25 and older in Pakistan attain a bach19 elor’s degree or equivalent as of 2016. 

20 (12) According to the World Bank, ‘‘Higher 

21 education benefits both individuals and society. Eco22 nomic returns for college graduates are the highest 

23 in the entire educational system—an average 17 per24 cent increase in earnings per year of schooling as 

25 compared with 10 percent for primary school.’’. 


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1 (13) 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. Since 2010, the United States Agency for 

5 International Development (referred to in this Act 

6 as ‘‘USAID’’) has awarded more than 6,000 scholar7 ships for young women to receive higher education 

8 in Pakistan. 

9 (14) The Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship 

10 Program administered by USAID awards scholar11 ships to academically talented, financially needy 

12 Pakistani students from all regions, including female 

13 students from rural areas of the country, to pursue 

14 bachelor’s or master’s degrees at participating Paki15 stani universities. 

16 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

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

18 (1) every individual should have the opportunity 

19 to pursue a full cycle of primary, secondary, and 

20 higher education; 

21 (2) every individual, regardless of gender, 

22 should have the opportunity to pursue an education 

23 without fear of discrimination; 


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1 (3) educational exchanges promote institutional 

2 linkages between the United States and Pakistan; 

3 and 

4 (4) recipients of scholarships referred to in sec5 tion 4 should commit to improving their local com6 munities. 

7 (b) CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR EDUCATIONAL INITIA8 TIVES IN PAKISTAN.—Congress encourages the Depart9 ment of State and USAID to continue their support for 

10 initiatives led by the Government of Pakistan and civil so11 ciety that promote education in Pakistan, especially edu12 cation for women, in accordance with USAID’s 2018 Edu13 cation Policy. 

14 SEC. 4. MERIT AND NEEDS-BASED SCHOLARSHIP PRO15 GRAM. 

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

17 award at least 50 percent of the number of scholarships 

18 under the Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program 

19 (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Program’’) to women for 

20 each of the calendar years 2020 through 2022. 

21 (b) LIMITATIONS.— 

22 (1) CRITERIA.—The scholarships available 

23 under subsection (a) may only be awarded in accord24 ance with other scholarship eligibility criteria already 

25 established by USAID. 


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1 (2) ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES.—Scholarships au2 thorized under subsection (a) shall be awarded for a 

3 range of disciplines to improve the employability of 

4 graduates and to meet the needs of the scholarship 

5 recipients. 

6 (3) OTHER SCHOLARSHIPS.—The USAID Ad7 ministrator shall make every effort to award 50 per8 cent of the scholarships available under the Program 

9 to Pakistani women. 

10 (c) LEVERAGING INVESTMENT.—The USAID Ad11 ministrator shall, to the greatest extent practicable, con12 sult with and leverage investments by the Pakistani pri13 vate sector and Pakistani diaspora communities in the 

14 United States as part of USAID’s greater effort to im15 prove the quality of, expand access to, and ensure sustain16 ability of education programs in Pakistan. 

17 SEC. 5. ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING. 

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

19 designate appropriate USAID officials to brief the appro20 priate congressional committees, not later than 1 year 

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

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

23 section 4. 


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

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

3 the most recently concluded fiscal year— 

4 (1) the total number of scholarships that were 

5 awarded through the Program, including a break6 down by gender; 

7 (2) the disciplines of study chosen by the schol8 arship recipients; 

9 (3) the percentage of the scholarships that were 

10 awarded to students seeking a bachelor’s degree or 

11 a master’s degree, respectively; 

12 (4) the percentage of scholarship recipients who 

13 voluntarily dropped out of school or were involun14 tarily pushed out of the program for failure to meet 

15 program requirements; and 

16 (5) the percentage of scholarship recipients who 

17 dropped out of school due to retaliation for seeking 

18 an education, to the extent that such information is 

19 available. 

Æ 


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