IIB 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1500 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 12, 2021 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

AN ACT 

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 

United States Agency for International Development 

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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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 finds the following: 

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 globally, in9 cluding 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 03:01 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1500.RFS H1500

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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 through 17, 

12 do not have internet connection in their homes, and 

13 schools and local learning centers also frequently 

14 have inadequate internet connectivity. Eighty per15 cent of students in sub-Saharan Africa lack such ac16 cess, with 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 2 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 low15 and middle-income countries should seek to— 

16 (1) provide inclusive learning opportunities for 

17 students and teachers, especially for the most 

18 marginalized, including girls, 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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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 United States Agency for International 

18 Development basic education programs. 

19 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report re20 quired under subsection (a) shall include, at a minimum, 

21 the following elements: 

22 (1) An assessment of the impact of COVID–19 

23 on such basic education programs, including the 

24 magnitude of learning loss that will result from pro25 tracted school closures and the specific effects of 


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1 school and learning space closures on marginalized 

2 children and youth, including girls, minority popu3 lations, displaced children, and those with disabil4 ities. 

5 (2) An assessment comparing academic out6 comes of beneficiaries of United States Agency for 

7 International Development basic education pro8 grams, as practical and appropriate, between those 

9 that attend schools that remain closed or continue to 

10 operate remotely since the start of the COVID–19 

11 pandemic and schools that have resumed in-person 

12 instruction. 

13 (3) A description of the effectiveness, cost, ac14 cessibility, and reach of the most commonly used 

15 forms of distance learning in low- and middle-income 

16 countries and low-resource contexts. 

17 (4) A description of efforts to pivot and adapt 

18 such basic education programs during the COVID– 

19 19 pandemic, including an overview of existing data 

20 on funding and programmatic focus disaggregated 

21 by gender, country, education level, and disability. 

22 (5) An identification and description of any 

23 gaps in, or barriers to, reaching and educating 

24 marginalized populations, such as girls, children 

25 with disabilities, displaced children, or other children 


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1 adversely affected by the COVID–19 pandemic with 

2 distance learning interventions. 

3 (6) A description of the United States Agency 

4 for International Development’s plan and needed au5 thorities and resources to prevent degradation of 

6 such basic education programs and to support, as 

7 necessary and appropriate, continued distance learn8 ing interventions, safe school reopenings, assess9 ments of student learning levels, remedial and accel10 erated learning, re-enrollment campaigns for out-of11 school children and youth, and education system 

12 strengthening and resilience-building efforts. 

13 (7) An analysis of the coordination between the 

14 United States Agency for International Development 

15 and other actors in global basic education policy and 

16 programming to provide education during the 

17 COVID–19 pandemic, including partner organiza18 tions, faith based-organizations, donors, and multi19 lateral organizations. 

20 (8) A description of opportunities to partner 

21 and support efforts to expand access to digital infra22 structure, internet connectivity, and learning re23 sources in areas that lack access to digital and re24 mote learning infrastructure and resources, includ25 ing rural and remote communities. 


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

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

3 (d) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

4 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con5 gressional committees’’ means— 

6 (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 

7 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep8 resentatives; and 

9 (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 

10 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate. 

Passed the House of Representatives June 29, 2021. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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