II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4548 

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 

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020 

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 2020’’. 

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 1,700,000,000 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 9,700,000 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 23:50 Sep 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4548.IS S4548

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1 lence, teenage pregnancy, school dropout, and child 

2 labor for girls. 

3 (8) Over 60 percent of national distance learn4 ing alternatives rely exclusively on online platforms 

5 but as many as 465,000,000 children and young 

6 people in these countries do not have access to the 

7 internet at home, with 80 percent of students in 

8 sub-Saharan Africa without such access, and an 

9 even higher rate for girls. 

10 (9) Distance learning tools are not always ac11 cessible to learners with disabilities or those with 

12 complex learning needs, especially in poorer and 

13 rural households. 

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

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

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

17 to distance learning tools threaten to make the edu18 cation gap among refugee children even more severe. 

19 (11) The economic downturn caused by the 

20 COVID–19 pandemic could lead to an education fi21 nancing gap of $77,000,000,000 in low- and middle22 income countries over the next two years. 

23 (12) The economic cost of school closures could 

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


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

2 lost economic output over the coming generation. 

3 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

4 It is the policy of the United States that United 

5 States-funded basic education programs operating in for6 eign countries should— 

7 (1) provide inclusive learning opportunities for 

8 students and teachers, especially for the most 

9 marginalized, including girls and children with dis10 abilities; 

11 (2) build local capacity and help countries 

12 strengthen their education systems; 

13 (3) improve the delivery and quality of edu14 cation services; 

15 (4) improve equity and safety in education serv16 ices; and 

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

18 have experienced interruptions in their education 

19 due to the COVID–19 pandemic and other causes. 

20 SEC. 4. REPORT. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

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

23 the United States Agency for International Development, 

24 acting through the Senior Coordinator for International 

25 Basic Education Assistance and in consultation with the 


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1 Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s 

2 Empowerment, shall submit to the appropriate congres3 sional committees a report on the impact of the COVID– 

4 19 pandemic on global learning and basic education pro5 grams. 

6 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report re7 quired under subsection (a) shall include, at a minimum, 

8 the following elements: 

9 (1) An assessment of the magnitude of global 

10 learning loss that will result from protracted school 

11 closures, including the specific effects of school clo12 sures on marginalized children and youth, including 

13 girls, minority populations, and those with disabil14 ities. 

15 (2) Descriptions of the effectiveness, cost, ac16 cessibility, and reach of the most commonly used 

17 forms of distance learning in low resource contexts. 

18 (3) An overview of existing Agency programs 

19 being carried out to continue learning during the 

20 COVID–19 pandemic, including data on funding and 

21 programmatic focus disaggregated by gender, coun22 try, education level, and, when practicable and ap23 propriate, disability. 

24 (4) Identification of any gaps in reaching 

25 marginalized populations, such as girls, children 


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1 with disabilities, or children affected by conflict and 

2 crisis. 

3 (5) A description of the tools and resources 

4 needed for the Agency to support continued distance 

5 learning interventions, safe school reopening, reme6 dial and accelerated learning, and reenrollment cam7 paigns for out-of-school children and youth. 

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

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

10 (d) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

11 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con12 gressional committees’’ means— 

13 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 

14 the 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. 

Æ 


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