WASHINGTON – The US Congress has approved the ‘Malala Yousafzai ScholarshipAct’ that will increase the number of scholarships available to Pakistaniwomen under the Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program (MNBSP).
The programme for calendar years 2020 through 2022 was passed by the Houseof Representatives in March 2020, and it sailed through the US Senate onJanuary 1. The bill now will be sent to the White House for US PresidentDonald Trump to sign it into law, reported international media.
The bill requires the US Agency for International Development (USAID) tomake efforts to award at least 50 percent of the scholarships to Pakistaniwomen, across a range of academic disciplines and in accordance withexisting eligibility criteria.
The Act also requires USAID to work in collaboration with the Pakistaniprivate sector and Pakistani diaspora in the United States to improve andexpand access to education programmes in the country.
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On October 10, 2014, Malala shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Indianchildren’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi in recognition of her strugglefor girls and women education.
In 2008, she launched the campaign; despite it was opposed by Taliban. Asshe remained reluctant, the terrorists attacked her and shot in the headwhen she was going home from school in 2012.
