Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act
PL 116-338 (H.R.4508), enacted 01/13/2021

[116th Congress Public Law 338]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



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                            MALALA YOUSAFZAI 
                             SCHOLARSHIP ACT

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Public Law 116-338
116th Congress

                                 An Act


 
To expand the number of scholarships available to Pakistani women under 
    the Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program. <<NOTE: Jan. 13, 
                         2021 -  [H.R. 4508]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, <<NOTE: Malala Yousafzai 
Scholarship Act. 22 USC 8411 note.>> 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) In late 2008, Malala Yousafzai began making the case for 
        access to education for women and girls despite objections from 
        the Pakistani Taliban. On October 9, 2012, Malala was shot in 
        the head by Pakistani Taliban on her way home from school.
            (2) <<NOTE: Ziauddin Yousafzai.>>  In 2013, Malala Yousafzai 
        and her father Ziauddin Yousafzai co-founded the Malala Fund. 
        The Malala Fund works to secure 12 years of free, safe, and 
        quality education for all girls. Completion of a full 12-year 
        cycle of primary and secondary education ensures a pipeline of 
        girls able to pursue higher education.
            (3) On July 12, 2013, Malala delivered a speech before the 
        United Nations General Assembly calling for expanded access to 
        education for women and girls across the globe. She said, 
        ``[L]et us wage a glorious struggle against illiteracy, poverty, 
        and terrorism. Let us pick up our books and our pens. They are 
        the most powerful weapons * * *. Education is the only 
        solution.''.
            (4) On October 10, 2014, Malala Yousafzai became the co-
        recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for her ``struggle against 
        the suppression of children and young people and for the right 
        of all children to education''.
            (5) According to the United Nations 2016 Global Education 
        Monitoring Report, more than 130 million girls worldwide are out 
        of school. 15 million girls of primary-school age will never 
        enter a classroom. As of 2016, at least 500 million adult women 
        across the globe are illiterate.
            (6) According to the World Bank, ``Girls' education is a 
        strategic development priority. Better educated women tend to be 
        healthier, participate more in the formal labor market, earn 
        higher incomes, * * * marry at a later age, and enable better 
        health care and education for their children, should they choose 
        to become mothers. All these factors combined

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        can help lift households, communities, and nations out of 
        poverty.''.
            (7) In 2015, all United Nations Member States, including the 
        United States, adopted quality education, including access to 
        higher education, and gender equality as sustainable development 
        goals to be attained by 2030. One of the education goal targets 
        is to ``ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable 
        and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, 
        including university''.
            (8) In January 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham 
        Clinton stated, ``We will open the doors of education to all 
        citizens, but especially to girls and women * * *. We are doing 
        all of these things because we have seen that when women and 
        girls have the tools to stay healthy and the opportunity to 
        contribute to their families'' well-being, they flourish and so 
        do the people around them.
            (9) In February 2019, the White House launched the Women's 
        Global Development and Prosperity Initiative to advance women's 
        economic empowerment across the globe and reach more than 
        100,000 women.
            (10) The World Economic Forum ranks Pakistan the second 
        lowest among all countries in the world evaluated for gender 
        equality. On educational attainment for women, Pakistan is 
        ranked the tenth lowest.
            (11) In Pakistan, the rate of higher education enrollment 
        beyond high school for girls and women is just 9 percent as 
        reported by the World Bank. The global rate is 40 percent. Less 
        than 6 percent of women 25 and older in Pakistan attain a 
        bachelor's degree or equivalent as of 2016.
            (12) Factors such as poverty, early marriage, disability, 
        ethnicity, and religion can contribute to the lack of 
        educational opportunities for women in marginalized communities.
            (13) According to the World Bank, ``Higher education 
        benefits both individuals and society. Economic returns for 
        college graduates are the highest in the entire educational 
        system--an average 17 percent increase in earnings per year of 
        schooling as compared with 10 percent for primary school.''.
            (14) The United States provides critical foreign assistance 
        to Pakistan's education sector to improve access to and the 
        quality of basic and higher education. Since 2010, the United 
        States Agency for International Development (referred to in this 
        Act as ``USAID'') has awarded more than 6,000 scholarships for 
        young women to receive higher education in Pakistan.
            (15) The Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program 
        administered by USAID awards scholarships to academically 
        talented, financially needy Pakistani students from all regions, 
        including female students from rural areas of the country, to 
        pursue bachelor's or master's degrees at participating Pakistani 
        universities.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) In General.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) every individual should have the opportunity to pursue a 
        full cycle of primary, secondary, and higher education;
            (2) every individual, regardless of gender, socio-economic 
        status, ethnicity, or religion should have the opportunity to 
        pursue an education without fear of discrimination;

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            (3) educational exchanges promote institutional linkages 
        between the United States and Pakistan; and
            (4) recipients of scholarships referred to in section 4 
        should commit to improving their local communities.

    (b) Continued Support for Educational Initiatives in Pakistan.--
Congress encourages the Department of State and USAID to continue their 
support for initiatives led by the Government of Pakistan and civil 
society that promote education in Pakistan, especially education for 
women, in accordance with USAID's 2018 Education Policy.
SEC. 4. MERIT AND NEEDS-BASED SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--The USAID Administrator shall award at least 50 
percent of the number of scholarships under the Merit and Needs-Based 
Scholarship Program (referred to in this Act as the ``Program'') to 
women for each of the calendar years 2020 through 2022.
    (b) Limitations.--
            (1) Criteria.--The scholarships available under subsection 
        (a) may only be awarded in accordance with other scholarship 
        eligibility criteria already established by USAID.
            (2) Academic disciplines.--Scholarships authorized under 
        subsection (a) shall be awarded for a range of disciplines to 
        improve the employability of graduates and to meet the needs of 
        the scholarship recipients.
            (3) Other scholarships.--The USAID Administrator shall make 
        every effort to award 50 percent of the scholarships available 
        under the Program to Pakistani women.

    (c) <<NOTE: Consultation.>>  Leveraging Investment.--The USAID 
Administrator shall, to the greatest extent practicable, consult with 
and leverage investments by the Pakistani private sector and Pakistani 
diaspora communities in the United States as part of USAID's greater 
effort to improve the quality of, expand access to, and ensure 
sustainability of education programs in Pakistan.
SEC. 5. ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING.

    (a) <<NOTE: Designation. Deadline. Time period.>>  In General.--The 
USAID Administrator shall designate appropriate USAID officials to brief 
the appropriate congressional committees, not later than 1 year after 
the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for the next 
3 years, on the implementation of section 4.

    (b) Contents.--The briefing described in subsection (a) shall 
include, among other relevant information, for the most recently 
concluded fiscal year--
            (1) the total number of scholarships that were awarded 
        through the Program, including a breakdown by gender;
            (2) the disciplines of study chosen by the scholarship 
        recipients;
            (3) the percentage of the scholarships that were awarded to 
        students seeking a bachelor's degree or a master's degree, 
        respectively;
            (4) the percentage of scholarship recipients who voluntarily 
        dropped out of school or were involuntarily pushed out of the 
        program for failure to meet program requirements; and

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            (5) the percentage of scholarship recipients who dropped out 
        of school due to retaliation for seeking an education, to the 
        extent that such information is available.

    Approved January 13, 2021.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--H.R. 4508:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD:
                                                        Vol. 166 (2020):
                                    Mar. 3, considered and passed House.
                                                        Vol. 167 (2021):
                                    Jan. 1, considered and passed 
                                        Senate.

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