116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4508 

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 Congress makes the following findings: 

6 (1) In late 2008, Malala Yousafzai began mak7 ing the case for access to education for women and 

8 girls despite objections from the Pakistani Taliban. 

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

10 Pakistani Taliban on her way home from school. 

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

12 Ziauddin Yousafzai co-founded the Malala Fund. 

13 The Malala Fund works to secure 12 years of free, 

14 safe, and quality education for all girls. Completion 

15 of a full 12-year cycle of primary and secondary edu16 cation ensures a pipeline of girls able to pursue 

17 higher education. 

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

19 speech before the United Nations General Assembly 

20 calling for expanded access to education for women 

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

22 a glorious struggle against illiteracy, poverty, and 

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

24 They are the most powerful weapons * * *. Edu25 cation is the only solution.’’. 
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1 (4) On October 10, 2014, Malala Yousafzai be2 came the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for 

3 her ‘‘struggle against the suppression of children 

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

5 education’’. 

6 (5) According to the United Nations 2016 

7 Global Education Monitoring Report, more than 130 

8 million girls worldwide are out of school. 15 million 

9 girls of primary-school age will never enter a class10 room. As of 2016, at least 500 million adult women 

11 across the globe are illiterate. 

12 (6) According to the World Bank, ‘‘Girls’ edu13 cation is a strategic development priority. Better 

14 educated women tend to be healthier, participate 

15 more in the formal labor market, earn higher in16 comes, * * * marry at a later age, and enable better 

17 health care and education for their children, should 

18 they choose to become mothers. All these factors 

19 combined can help lift households, communities, and 

20 nations out of poverty.’’. 

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

22 including the United States, adopted quality edu23 cation, including access to higher education, and 

24 gender equality as sustainable development goals to 

25 be attained by 2030. One of the education goal tar-
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1 gets is to ‘‘ensure equal access for all women and 

2 men to affordable and quality technical, vocational 

3 and tertiary education, including university’’. 

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

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

6 education to all citizens, but especially to girls and 

7 women * * *. We are doing all of these things be8 cause we have seen that when women and girls have 

9 the tools to stay healthy and the opportunity to con10 tribute to their families’’ well-being, they flourish 

11 and so do the people around them. 

12 (9) In February 2019, the White House 

13 launched the Women’s Global Development and 

14 Prosperity Initiative to advance women’s economic 

15 empowerment across the globe and reach more than 

16 100,000 women. 

17 (10) The World Economic Forum ranks Paki18 stan the second lowest among all countries in the 

19 world evaluated for gender equality. On educational 

20 attainment for women, Pakistan is ranked the tenth 

21 lowest. 

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

23 enrollment beyond high school for girls and women 

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

25 The global rate is 40 percent. Less than 6 percent 
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1 of women 25 and older in Pakistan attain a bach2 elor’s degree or equivalent as of 2016. 

3 (12) Factors such as poverty, early marriage, 

4 disability, ethnicity, and religion can contribute to 

5 the lack of educational opportunities for women in 

6 marginalized communities. 

7 (13) According to the World Bank, ‘‘Higher 

8 education benefits both individuals and society. Eco9 nomic returns for college graduates are the highest 

10 in the entire educational system—an average 17 per11 cent increase in earnings per year of schooling as 

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

13 (14) The United States provides critical foreign 

14 assistance to Pakistan’s education sector to improve 

15 access to and the quality of basic and higher edu16 cation. Since 2010, the United States Agency for 

17 International Development (referred to in this Act 

18 as ‘‘USAID’’) has awarded more than 6,000 scholar19 ships for young women to receive higher education 

20 in Pakistan. 

21 (15) The Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship 

22 Program administered by USAID awards scholar23 ships to academically talented, financially needy 

24 Pakistani students from all regions, including female 

25 students from rural areas of the country, to pursue 
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1 bachelor’s or master’s degrees at participating Paki2 stani universities. 

3 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

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

5 (1) every individual should have the opportunity 

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

7 higher education; 

8 (2) every individual, regardless of gender, socio9 economic status, ethnicity, or religion should have 

10 the opportunity to pursue an education without fear 

11 of discrimination; 

12 (3) educational exchanges promote institutional 

13 linkages between the United States and Pakistan; 

14 and 

15 (4) recipients of scholarships referred to in sec16 tion 4 should commit to improving their local com17 munities. 

18 (b) CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR EDUCATIONAL INITIA19 TIVES IN PAKISTAN.—Congress encourages the Depart20 ment of State and USAID to continue their support for 

21 initiatives led by the Government of Pakistan and civil so22 ciety that promote education in Pakistan, especially edu23 cation for women, in accordance with USAID’s 2018 Edu24 cation Policy. 
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1 SEC. 4. MERIT AND NEEDS-BASED SCHOLARSHIP PRO2 GRAM. 

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

4 award at least 50 percent of the number of scholarships 

5 under the Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program 

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

7 each of the calendar years 2020 through 2022. 

8 (b) LIMITATIONS.— 

9 (1) CRITERIA.—The scholarships available 

10 under subsection (a) may only be awarded in accord11 ance with other scholarship eligibility criteria already 

12 established by USAID. 

13 (2) ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES.—Scholarships au14 thorized under subsection (a) shall be awarded for a 

15 range of disciplines to improve the employability of 

16 graduates and to meet the needs of the scholarship 

17 recipients. 

18 (3) OTHER SCHOLARSHIPS.—The USAID Ad19 ministrator shall make every effort to award 50 per20 cent of the scholarships available under the Program 

21 to Pakistani women. 

22 (c) LEVERAGING INVESTMENT.—The USAID Ad23 ministrator shall, to the greatest extent practicable, con24 sult with and leverage investments by the Pakistani pri25 vate sector and Pakistani diaspora communities in the 

26 United States as part of USAID’s greater effort to im-
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1 prove the quality of, expand access to, and ensure sustain2 ability of education programs in Pakistan. 

3 SEC. 5. ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING. 

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

5 designate appropriate USAID officials to brief the appro6 priate congressional committees, not later than 1 year 

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

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

9 section 4. 

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

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

12 the most recently concluded fiscal year— 

13 (1) the total number of scholarships that were 

14 awarded through the Program, including a break15 down by gender; 

16 (2) the disciplines of study chosen by the schol17 arship recipients; 

18 (3) the percentage of the scholarships that were 

19 awarded to students seeking a bachelor’s degree or 

20 a master’s degree, respectively; 

21 (4) the percentage of scholarship recipients who 

22 voluntarily dropped out of school or were involun23 tarily pushed out of the program for failure to meet 

24 program requirements; and 
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1 (5) the percentage of scholarship recipients who 

2 dropped out of school due to retaliation for seeking 

3 an education, to the extent that such information is 

4 available. 

Passed the House of Representatives March 3, 

2020. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 
116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4508 

AN ACT 

To expand the number of scholarships available to 

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