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[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 552 Reported in Senate (RS)]

<DOC>

                                                       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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

<DELETED>SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    This Act may be cited as the ``Global Learning Loss 
Assessment Act of 2021''.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 2. FINDINGS.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    Congress makes the following findings:</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) Before the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (commonly 
        referred to as ``COVID-19'') pandemic began, 258,000,000 
        children were out of school, including 130,000,000 
        girls.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Students already at a disadvantage before 
        COVID-19 will experience greater learning loss, thereby 
        worsening inequity and inequality.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) Approximately 90 percent of the world's 
        student population--over 1,600,000,000 children and youth--have 
        had their education disrupted by school closure due to COVID-
        19.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) School closures lead to interrupted learning, 
        poor nutrition, gaps in childcare, increased dropout rates, 
        exposure to violence, and social isolation.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (5) Up to 24,000,000 children are at risk of 
        dropping out of school permanently due to rising levels of 
        child poverty associated with the pandemic.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (6) School closure and remote learning is 
        especially burdensome on girls, who are frequently expected to 
        shoulder more household chores and responsibilities and are 
        more vulnerable to gender-based violence.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (7) During the Ebola epidemic, nationwide school 
        closures in Sierra Leone in 2014 led to increased instances of 
        sexual- and gender-based violence, teenage pregnancy, school 
        dropout, and child labor for girls.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (8) More than 60 percent of national distance 
        learning alternatives rely exclusively on online platforms but 
        two-thirds of the world's school aged children, or 
        1,300,000,000 children aged 3 to 17, do not have internet 
        connection in their homes, and schools and local learning 
        centers also frequently have inadequate internet connectivity. 
        Eighty percent of students in sub-Saharan Africa lack such 
        access, with an even higher rate for girls.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (9) Children and youth with disabilities are 
        particularly vulnerable to the health, education, and 
        socioeconomic consequences of the pandemic. As a further 
        challenge, distance learning tools are not always accessible to 
        learners with disabilities or those with complex learning 
        needs, especially in poorer and rural households.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (10) Before the COVID-19 pandemic, refugee 
        children were twice as likely to be out of school as other 
        youth, and school closures and a lack of access to distance 
        learning tools threaten to make the education gap among refugee 
        children even more severe.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (11) The economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 
        pandemic could lead to an education financing gap of 
        $77,000,000,000 in low- and middle-income countries over the 
        next two years.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (12) The economic cost of school closures could be 
        up to $1,337 per student, which on a global scale equates to 
        approximately $10,000,000,000,000 in lost economic output over 
        the coming generation.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    It is the policy of the United States that United States-
funded basic education programs operating in foreign countries should--
</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) provide inclusive learning opportunities for 
        students and teachers, especially for the most marginalized, 
        including girls and children with disabilities, and previously 
        out of school children;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) build local capacity and help countries 
        strengthen their education systems, including opportunities for 
        early childhood development;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) improve the availability, delivery, and 
        quality of education services from early childhood through 
        secondary education;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) improve equity and safety in education 
        services; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (5) support the return of children to school who 
        have experienced interruptions in their education due to the 
        COVID-19 pandemic and work to enroll previously out-of-school 
        children and youth, particularly the most 
        marginalized.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 4. REPORT.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the United States 
Agency for International Development, acting through the Senior 
Coordinator for International Basic Education Assistance and in 
consultation with the Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and 
Women's Empowerment, shall submit to the appropriate congressional 
committees a report on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on USAID's 
basic education programs.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Matters To Be Included.--The report required under 
subsection (a) shall include, at a minimum, the following 
elements:</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) An assessment of the magnitude of global 
        learning loss that will result from protracted school closures, 
        including the specific effects of school closures on 
        marginalized children and youth, including girls, minority 
        populations, and those with disabilities.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Descriptions of the effectiveness, cost, 
        accessibility, and reach of the most commonly used forms of 
        distance learning in low resource contexts.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) An overview of Agency programs being carried 
        out to continue learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, 
        including existing data on funding and programmatic focus 
        disaggregated by gender, country, education level, and 
        disability.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) Identification and description of any gaps in, 
        or barriers to, reaching and educating marginalized 
        populations, such as girls, children with disabilities, 
        displaced children, or other children adversely affected by the 
        COVID-19 pandemic with distance learning 
        interventions.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (5) A description of the Agency's plan and needed 
        tools and resources to support continued distance learning 
        interventions, safe school reopening, assessments of student 
        learning levels, remedial and accelerated learning, 
        reenrollment campaigns for out-of-school children and youth, 
        and education system strengthening and resilience building 
        efforts.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (6) An analysis of the efforts of other actors in 
        global basic education policy and programming to provide 
        education during COVID-19, including partner organizations, 
        donors, and bilateral and multilateral organizations, and the 
        role of USAID in those efforts.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (7) Opportunities to partner and support efforts 
        to expand access to digital infrastructure, internet 
        connectivity, and learning resources in areas that lack access 
        to digital and remote learning infrastructure and resources, 
        including rural and remote communities.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (c) Public Availability.--The report required by 
subsection (a) shall be made available to the public.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (d) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this 
section, the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the 
        Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 
        Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
        Representatives.</DELETED>

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Global Learning Loss Assessment Act 
of 2022''.

SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It is the policy of the United States that United States-funded 
basic education programs operating in low- and middle-income countries 
should seek to--
            (1) provide safe, inclusive learning opportunities for 
        students and teachers, especially for the most marginalized, 
        including girls, minority populations, displaced children, 
        children with disabilities, and previously out of school 
        children;
            (2) build local capacity and help countries strengthen the 
        resilience of their education systems, including opportunities 
        for early childhood development;
            (3) improve the availability, delivery, quality, and equity 
        of education services from early childhood through secondary 
        education, including in remote, home, and school-based learning 
        contexts; and
            (4) support the safe return of children to school and work 
        to enroll previously out-of-school children and youth, 
        particularly the most marginalized.

SEC. 3. REPORT.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the United States Agency 
for International Development shall submit to the appropriate 
congressional committees a report on the impact of the COVID-19 
pandemic on United States Agency for International Development basic 
education programs.
    (b) Matters To Be Included.--The report required under subsection 
(a) shall include, at a minimum, the following elements:
            (1) An assessment of--
                    (A) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on such 
                basic education programs, including existing data on 
                the magnitude of learning loss that has resulted from 
                protracted school closures, disaggregated by gender;
                    (B) the specific effects of school and learning 
                space closures on marginalized children and youth 
                served by USAID basic education programs, such as 
                girls, minority populations, displaced children, and 
                those with disabilities;
                    (C) the capacity constraints faced by partner 
                countries and affected communities in ensuring safe and 
                healthy in-person learning environments and delivering 
                effective remote learning alternatives, disaggregated 
                by urban versus rural communities and historically 
                underserved or marginalized communities;
                    (D) the impact on children's education beyond 
                school closures, particularly for girls who lost access 
                to education due to increased household and childcare 
                duties during the COVID-19 pandemic; and
                    (E) available data on the percentage of students 
                who are returning to school upon reopening, 
                disaggregated by gender.
            (2) An overview of--
                    (A) how USAID, independently and in coordination 
                with partners, has adapted basic education programming 
                during the COVID-19 pandemic to support continued 
                learning;
                    (B) barriers that USAID has experienced or observed 
                to reaching students with effective and equitable 
                distance learning opportunities while schools have been 
                closed as a public health precaution during the COVID-
                19 pandemic, including with respect to marginalized 
                populations such as girls, minority populations, 
                displaced children, and those with disabilities; and
                    (C) education interventions, best practices, and 
                innovations deployed in middle- and lower-income 
                countries that are enabling the continued delivery of 
                high quality and equitable basic education despite 
                challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
            (3) A description of--
                    (A) USAID's plans to support, as safe and 
                practicable, high-quality distance learning 
                interventions, re-enrollment initiatives for out-of-
                school children and youth, school reopening, 
                assessments of student learning levels, remedial and 
                accelerated learning, and education system 
                strengthening and resilience-building efforts;
                    (B) USAID's approach to addressing the social and 
                health risks stemming from school closures necessitated 
                by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly with respect to 
                marginalized children and youth such as girls, minority 
                populations, displaced children, and children with 
                disabilities;
                    (C) opportunities for USAID to partner with other 
                international development actors and organizations, 
                including other donors, the United States International 
                Development Finance Corporation, multilateral banks, 
                faith-based institutions, local and international 
                organizations, and the private sector, to enable 
                continued access to quality basic education in public 
                health emergencies, including through efforts to 
                support expanded access to digital infrastructure, 
                internet connectivity, and learning resources in areas 
                that lack access to such infrastructure and resources; 
                and
                    (D) any additional authorities and resources 
                required by USAID to execute the activities described 
                in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C).
    (c) Public Availability.--The report required by subsection (a) 
shall be made available to the public.
    (d) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section, 
the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
            (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on 
        Appropriations of the Senate; and
            (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on 
        Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
                                                       Calendar No. 454

117th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                                 S. 552

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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.

_______________________________________________________________________

                             July 21, 2022

                       Reported with an amendment
```