II 

Calendar No. 454 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 552 

To direct the Administrator of the United States Agency for International 

Development to submit to Congress a report on the impact of the 

COVID–19 pandemic on global basic education programs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 2 (legislative day, MARCH 1), 2021 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. 

CASEY, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

JULY 21, 2022 

Reported by Mr. MENENDEZ, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To direct the Administrator of the United States Agency 

for International Development to submit to Congress a 

report on the impact of the COVID–19 pandemic on 

global basic education programs. 

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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•S 552 RS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Global Learning Loss 

3 Assessment Act of 2021’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress makes the following findings: 

6 (1) Before the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (com7 monly referred to as ‘‘COVID–19’’) pandemic began, 

8 258,000,000 children were out of school, including 

9 130,000,000 girls. 

10 (2) Students already at a disadvantage before 

11 COVID–19 will experience greater learning loss, 

12 thereby worsening inequity and inequality. 

13 (3) Approximately 90 percent of the world’s 

14 student population—over 1,600,000,000 children 

15 and youth—have had their education disrupted by 

16 school closure due to COVID–19. 

17 (4) School closures lead to interrupted learning, 

18 poor nutrition, gaps in childcare, increased dropout 

19 rates, exposure to violence, and social isolation. 

20 (5) Up to 24,000,000 children are at risk of 

21 dropping out of school permanently due to rising lev22 els of child poverty associated with the pandemic. 

23 (6) School closure and remote learning is espe24 cially burdensome on girls, who are frequently ex25 pected to shoulder more household chores and reVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:10 Jul 21, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S552.RS S552

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•S 552 RS

1 sponsibilities and are more vulnerable to gender2 based violence. 

3 (7) During the Ebola epidemic, nationwide 

4 school closures in Sierra Leone in 2014 led to in5 creased instances of sexual- and gender-based vio6 lence, teenage pregnancy, school dropout, and child 

7 labor for girls. 

8 (8) More than 60 percent of national distance 

9 learning alternatives rely exclusively on online plat10 forms but two-thirds of the world’s school aged chil11 dren, or 1,300,000,000 children aged 3 to 17, do not 

12 have internet connection in their homes, and schools 

13 and local learning centers also frequently have inad14 equate internet connectivity. Eighty percent of stu15 dents in sub-Saharan Africa lack such access, with 

16 an even higher rate for girls. 

17 (9) Children and youth with disabilities are par18 ticularly vulnerable to the health, education, and so19 cioeconomic consequences of the pandemic. As a fur20 ther challenge, distance learning tools are not always 

21 accessible to learners with disabilities or those with 

22 complex learning needs, especially in poorer and 

23 rural households. 

24 (10) Before the COVID–19 pandemic, refugee 

25 children were twice as likely to be out of school as 


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1 other youth, and school closures and a lack of access 

2 to distance learning tools threaten to make the edu3 cation gap among refugee children even more severe. 

4 (11) The economic downturn caused by the 

5 COVID–19 pandemic could lead to an education fi6 nancing gap of $77,000,000,000 in low- and middle7 income countries over the next two years. 

8 (12) The economic cost of school closures could 

9 be up to $1,337 per student, which on a global scale 

10 equates to approximately $10,000,000,000,000 in 

11 lost economic output over the coming generation. 

12 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

13 It is the policy of the United States that United 

14 States-funded basic education programs operating in for15 eign countries should— 

16 (1) provide inclusive learning opportunities for 

17 students and teachers, especially for the most mar18 ginalized, including girls and children with disabil19 ities, and previously out of school children; 

20 (2) build local capacity and help countries 

21 strengthen their education systems, including oppor22 tunities for early childhood development; 

23 (3) improve the availability, delivery, and qual24 ity of education services from early childhood 

25 through secondary education; 


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•S 552 RS

1 (4) improve equity and safety in education serv2 ices; and 

3 (5) support the return of children to school who 

4 have experienced interruptions in their education 

5 due to the COVID–19 pandemic and work to enroll 

6 previously out-of-school children and youth, particu7 larly the most marginalized. 

8 SEC. 4. REPORT. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

10 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 

11 the United States Agency for International Development, 

12 acting through the Senior Coordinator for International 

13 Basic Education Assistance and in consultation with the 

14 Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s 

15 Empowerment, shall submit to the appropriate congres16 sional committees a report on the impact of the COVID– 

17 19 pandemic on USAID’s basic education programs. 

18 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report re19 quired under subsection (a) shall include, at a minimum, 

20 the following elements: 

21 (1) An assessment of the magnitude of global 

22 learning loss that will result from protracted school 

23 closures, including the specific effects of school clo24 sures on marginalized children and youth, including 


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1 girls, minority populations, and those with disabil2 ities. 

3 (2) Descriptions of the effectiveness, cost, ac4 cessibility, and reach of the most commonly used 

5 forms of distance learning in low resource contexts. 

6 (3) An overview of Agency programs being car7 ried out to continue learning during the COVID–19 

8 pandemic, including existing data on funding and 

9 programmatic focus disaggregated by gender, coun10 try, education level, and disability. 

11 (4) Identification and description of any gaps 

12 in, or barriers to, reaching and educating marginal13 ized populations, such as girls, children with disabil14 ities, displaced children, or other children adversely 

15 affected by the COVID–19 pandemic with distance 

16 learning interventions. 

17 (5) A description of the Agency’s plan and 

18 needed tools and resources to support continued dis19 tance learning interventions, safe school reopening, 

20 assessments of student learning levels, remedial and 

21 accelerated learning, reenrollment campaigns for 

22 out-of-school children and youth, and education sys23 tem strengthening and resilience building efforts. 

24 (6) An analysis of the efforts of other actors in 

25 global basic education policy and programming to 


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1 provide education during COVID–19, including part2 ner organizations, donors, and bilateral and multilat3 eral organizations, and the role of USAID in those 

4 efforts. 

5 (7) Opportunities to partner and support ef6 forts to expand access to digital infrastructure, 

7 internet connectivity, and learning resources in areas 

8 that lack access to digital and remote learning infra9 structure and resources, including rural and remote 

10 communities. 

11 (c) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The report required by 

12 subsection (a) shall be made available to the public. 

13 (d) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

14 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con15 gressional committees’’ means— 

16 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 

17 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and 

18 (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 

19 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep20 resentatives. 

21 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

22 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Global Learning Loss 

23 Assessment Act of 2022’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

2 It is the policy of the United States that United States3 funded basic education programs operating in low- and 

4 middle-income countries should seek to— 

5 (1) provide safe, inclusive learning opportunities 

6 for students and teachers, especially for the most 

7 marginalized, including girls, minority populations, 

8 displaced children, children with disabilities, and pre9 viously out of school children; 

10 (2) build local capacity and help countries 

11 strengthen the resilience of their education systems, 

12 including opportunities for early childhood develop13 ment; 

14 (3) improve the availability, delivery, quality, 

15 and equity of education services from early childhood 

16 through secondary education, including in remote, 

17 home, and school-based learning contexts; and 

18 (4) support the safe return of children to school 

19 and work to enroll previously out-of-school children 

20 and youth, particularly the most marginalized. 

21 SEC. 3. REPORT. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

23 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 

24 United States Agency for International Development shall 

25 submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report 

26 on the impact of the COVID–19 pandemic on United States 


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1 Agency for International Development basic education pro2 grams. 

3 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report required 

4 under subsection (a) shall include, at a minimum, the fol5 lowing elements: 

6 (1) An assessment of— 

7 (A) the impact of the COVID–19 pandemic 

8 on such basic education programs, including ex9 isting data on the magnitude of learning loss 

10 that has resulted from protracted school closures, 

11 disaggregated by gender; 

12 (B) the specific effects of school and learn13 ing space closures on marginalized children and 

14 youth served by USAID basic education pro15 grams, such as girls, minority populations, dis16 placed children, and those with disabilities; 

17 (C) the capacity constraints faced by part18 ner countries and affected communities in ensur19 ing safe and healthy in-person learning environ20 ments and delivering effective remote learning 

21 alternatives, disaggregated by urban versus rural 

22 communities and historically underserved or 

23 marginalized communities; 

24 (D) the impact on children’s education be25 yond school closures, particularly for girls who 


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1 lost access to education due to increased house2 hold and childcare duties during the COVID–19 

3 pandemic; and 

4 (E) available data on the percentage of stu5 dents who are returning to school upon reopen6 ing, disaggregated by gender. 

7 (2) An overview of— 

8 (A) how USAID, independently and in co9 ordination with partners, has adapted basic edu10 cation programming during the COVID–19 pan11 demic to support continued learning; 

12 (B) barriers that USAID has experienced or 

13 observed to reaching students with effective and 

14 equitable distance learning opportunities while 

15 schools have been closed as a public health pre16 caution during the COVID–19 pandemic, includ17 ing with respect to marginalized populations 

18 such as girls, minority populations, displaced 

19 children, and those with disabilities; and 

20 (C) education interventions, best practices, 

21 and innovations deployed in middle- and lower22 income countries that are enabling the continued 

23 delivery of high quality and equitable basic edu24 cation despite challenges caused by the COVID– 

25 19 pandemic. 


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1 (3) A description of— 

2 (A) USAID’s plans to support, as safe and 

3 practicable, high-quality distance learning inter4 ventions, re-enrollment initiatives for out-of5 school children and youth, school reopening, as6 sessments of student learning levels, remedial 

7 and accelerated learning, and education system 

8 strengthening and resilience-building efforts; 

9 (B) USAID’s approach to addressing the so10 cial and health risks stemming from school clo11 sures necessitated by the COVID–19 pandemic, 

12 particularly with respect to marginalized chil13 dren and youth such as girls, minority popu14 lations, displaced children, and children with 

15 disabilities; 

16 (C) opportunities for USAID to partner 

17 with other international development actors and 

18 organizations, including other donors, the United 

19 States International Development Finance Cor20 poration, multilateral banks, faith-based institu21 tions, local and international organizations, and 

22 the private sector, to enable continued access to 

23 quality basic education in public health emer24 gencies, including through efforts to support ex25 panded access to digital infrastructure, internet 


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1 connectivity, and learning resources in areas 

2 that lack access to such infrastructure and re3 sources; and 

4 (D) any additional authorities and re5 sources required by USAID to execute the activi6 ties described in subparagraphs (A), (B), and 

7 (C). 

8 (c) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The report required by 

9 subsection (a) shall be made available to the public. 

10 (d) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE11 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres12 sional committees’’ means— 

13 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the 

14 Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and 

15 (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 

16 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep17 resentatives. 


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Calendar No. 454 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 552 

A BILL 

To direct the Administrator of the United States 

programs. COVID–19 pandemic on global basic education to Congress a report on the impact of the Agency for International Development to submit 

JULY 21, 2022 

Reported with an amendment 


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