The Basic Education Coalition is grateful to the House Foreign Affairs Committee for unanimously passing the Global Child Thrive Act of 2019 (H.R. 4864) and the Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act (H.R. 4508) out of the Committee today. The Coalition thanks Chairman Eliot Engel (D-NY) and Ranking Member Michael McCaul (R-TX) for their bipartisan leadership in advancing legislation that supports international education and early childhood development, and we urge House leadership to quickly take up and pass H.R. 4864 and H.R. 4508.
The Global Child Thrive Act of 2019 is led by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and directs USAID to integrate early childhood development (ECD) interventions into current foreign assistance program that serve young children and their families.
The Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act was introduced by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Rep. Anne Wagner (R-MO) and requires that USAID award 50 percent of scholarships to women under the USAID-funded Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program in Pakistan. This bill also encourages the State Department and USAID to continue to support initiatives that promote education in Pakistan, especially education for women, in accordance with USAID’s 2018 Education Policy.
The Basic Education Coalition is a group of leading U.S.-based organizations and academic institutions working together to promote global peace and prosperity through education.