ISLAMABAD: United States President Donald Trump has signed the Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act which will increase the number of scholarships available to Pakistani women under an educational program by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
The act requires the USAID to award to women at least 50 percent of higher education scholarships under the Merit and Needs Based Scholarship Program, which was established by the USAID and the Higher Education Commission for talented yet economically disadvantaged Pakistani youth.
The act was passed by Congress in early January and was signed by Trump last week, days before a new US administration will take office under President-elect Joe Biden.
It is named after the 23-year-old Pakistani activist and youngest recipient ever of a Nobel Peace Prize.
Since 2008, Yousafzai has been advocating access to education for women and girls. In 2012, she was shot by a Pakistani Taliban gunman on her way home from school in Swat.
In 2014, she shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Indian children's rights activist Kailash Satyarthi for her "struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education."
