II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST 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 and Mr. BOOZMAN) introduced the following bill; 

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

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Assessment Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) Before the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (com2 monly referred to as ‘‘COVID–19’’) pandemic began, 

3 258,000,000 children were out of school, including 

4 130,000,000 girls. 

5 (2) Students already at a disadvantage before 

6 COVID–19 will experience greater learning loss, 

7 thereby worsening inequity and inequality. 

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

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

10 and youth—have had their education disrupted by 

11 school closure due to COVID–19. 

12 (4) School closures lead to interrupted learning, 

13 poor nutrition, gaps in childcare, increased dropout 

14 rates, exposure to violence, and social isolation. 

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

16 dropping out of school permanently due to rising lev17 els of child poverty associated with the pandemic. 

18 (6) School closure and remote learning is espe19 cially burdensome on girls, who are frequently ex20 pected to shoulder more household chores and re21 sponsibilities and are more vulnerable to gender22 based violence. 

23 (7) During the Ebola epidemic, nationwide 

24 school closures in Sierra Leone in 2014 led to in25 creased instances of sexual- and gender-based vioVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S552.IS S552

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1 lence, teenage pregnancy, school dropout, and child 

2 labor for girls. 

3 (8) More than 60 percent of national distance 

4 learning alternatives rely exclusively on online plat5 forms but two-thirds of the world’s school aged chil6 dren, or 1,300,000,000 children aged 3 to 17, do not 

7 have internet connection in their homes, and schools 

8 and local learning centers also frequently have inad9 equate internet connectivity. Eighty percent of stu10 dents in sub-Saharan Africa lack such access, with 

11 an even higher rate for girls. 

12 (9) Children and youth with disabilities are par13 ticularly vulnerable to the health, education, and so14 cioeconomic consequences of the pandemic. As a fur15 ther challenge, distance learning tools are not always 

16 accessible to learners with disabilities or those with 

17 complex learning needs, especially in poorer and 

18 rural households. 

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

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

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

22 to distance learning tools threaten to make the edu23 cation gap among refugee children even more severe. 

24 (11) The economic downturn caused by the 

25 COVID–19 pandemic could lead to an education fiVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S552.IS S552

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1 nancing gap of $77,000,000,000 in low- and middle2 income countries over the next two years. 

3 (12) The economic cost of school closures could 

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

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

6 lost economic output over the coming generation. 

7 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

8 It is the policy of the United States that United 

9 States-funded basic education programs operating in for10 eign countries should— 

11 (1) provide inclusive learning opportunities for 

12 students and teachers, especially for the most mar13 ginalized, including girls and children with disabil14 ities, and previously out of school children; 

15 (2) build local capacity and help countries 

16 strengthen their education systems, including oppor17 tunities for early childhood development; 

18 (3) improve the availability, delivery, and qual19 ity of education services from early childhood 

20 through secondary education; 

21 (4) improve equity and safety in education serv22 ices; and 

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

24 have experienced interruptions in their education 

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


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1 previously out-of-school children and youth, particu2 larly the most marginalized. 

3 SEC. 4. REPORT. 

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

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

6 the United States Agency for International Development, 

7 acting through the Senior Coordinator for International 

8 Basic Education Assistance and in consultation with the 

9 Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s 

10 Empowerment, shall submit to the appropriate congres11 sional committees a report on the impact of the COVID– 

12 19 pandemic on USAID’s basic education programs. 

13 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report re14 quired under subsection (a) shall include, at a minimum, 

15 the following elements: 

16 (1) An assessment of the magnitude of global 

17 learning loss that will result from protracted school 

18 closures, including the specific effects of school clo19 sures on marginalized children and youth, including 

20 girls, minority populations, and those with disabil21 ities. 

22 (2) Descriptions of the effectiveness, cost, ac23 cessibility, and reach of the most commonly used 

24 forms of distance learning in low resource contexts. 


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1 (3) An overview of Agency programs being car2 ried out to continue learning during the COVID–19 

3 pandemic, including existing data on funding and 

4 programmatic focus disaggregated by gender, coun5 try, education level, and disability. 

6 (4) Identification and description of any gaps 

7 in, or barriers to, reaching and educating marginal8 ized populations, such as girls, children with disabil9 ities, displaced children, or other children adversely 

10 affected by the COVID–19 pandemic with distance 

11 learning interventions. 

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

13 needed tools and resources to support continued dis14 tance learning interventions, safe school reopening, 

15 assessments of student learning levels, remedial and 

16 accelerated learning, reenrollment campaigns for 

17 out-of-school children and youth, and education sys18 tem strengthening and resilience building efforts. 

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

20 global basic education policy and programming to 

21 provide education during COVID–19, including part22 ner organizations, donors, and bilateral and multilat23 eral organizations, and the role of USAID in those 

24 efforts. 


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1 (7) Opportunities to partner and support ef2 forts to expand access to digital infrastructure, 

3 internet connectivity, and learning resources in areas 

4 that lack access to digital and remote learning infra5 structure and resources, including rural and remote 

6 communities. 

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

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

9 (d) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

10 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con11 gressional committees’’ means— 

12 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 

13 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and 

14 (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 

15 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep16 resentatives. 

Æ 


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