I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1500 
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 2, 2021 
Ms. HOULAHAN (for herself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, and Mr. QUIGLEY) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
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 Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Global Learning Loss 
Assessment Act of 2021’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:57 Apr 16, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1500.IH
H1500
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
(1) Before the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (com-
monly referred to as ‘‘COVID–19’’) pandemic began, 
258,000,000 children were out of school, including 
130,000,000 girls. 
(2) Students already at a disadvantage before 
COVID–19 will experience greater learning loss, 
thereby worsening inequity and inequality. 
(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. 
(4) School closures lead to interrupted learning, 
poor nutrition, gaps in childcare, increased dropout 
rates, exposure to violence, and social isolation. 
(5) Up to 24,000,000 children are at risk of 
dropping out of school permanently due to rising lev-
els of child poverty associated with the pandemic. 
(6) School closure and remote learning is espe-
cially burdensome on girls, who are frequently ex-
pected to shoulder more household chores and re-
sponsibilities and are more vulnerable to gender- 
based violence. 
(7) During the Ebola epidemic, nationwide 
school closures in Sierra Leone in 2014 led to in-
creased instances of sexual- and gender-based vio-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:57 Apr 16, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1500.IH
H1500
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
lence, teenage pregnancy, school dropout, and child 
labor for girls. 
(8) More than 60 percent of national distance 
learning alternatives rely exclusively on online plat-
forms but two-thirds of the world’s school aged chil-
dren, or 1,300,000,000 children aged 3–17, do not 
have internet connection in their homes, and schools 
and local learning centers also frequently have inad-
equate internet connectivity. Eighty percent of stu-
dents in sub-Saharan Africa lack such access, with 
an even higher rate for girls. 
(9) Children and youth with disabilities are par-
ticularly vulnerable to the health, education, and so-
cioeconomic consequences of the pandemic. As a fur-
ther challenge, distance learning tools are not always 
accessible to learners with disabilities or those with 
complex learning needs, especially in poorer and 
rural households. 
(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 edu-
cation gap among refugee children even more severe. 
(11) The economic downturn caused by the 
COVID–19 pandemic could lead to an education fi-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:57 Apr 16, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1500.IH
H1500
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
nancing gap of $77,000,000,000 in low- and middle- 
income countries over the next two years. 
(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. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States that United 
States-funded basic education programs operating in for-
eign countries should— 
(1) provide inclusive learning opportunities for 
students and teachers, especially for the most 
marginalized, including girls, children with disabil-
ities, and previously out of school children; 
(2) build local capacity and help countries 
strengthen their education systems, including oppor-
tunities for early childhood development; 
(3) improve the availability, delivery, and qual-
ity of education services from early childhood 
through secondary education; 
(4) improve equity and safety in education serv-
ices; and 
(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 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:57 Apr 16, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1500.IH
H1500
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
previously out-of-school children and youth, particu-
larly the most marginalized. 
SEC. 4. 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, 
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 congres-
sional committees a report on the impact of the COVID– 
19 pandemic on the Agency’s basic education programs. 
(b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report re-
quired under subsection (a) shall include, at a minimum, 
the following elements: 
(1) An assessment of the magnitude of learning 
loss that will result from protracted school closures, 
including the specific effects of school and learning 
space closures on marginalized children and youth, 
including girls, minority populations, displaced chil-
dren, and those with disabilities. 
(2) Descriptions of the effectiveness, cost, ac-
cessibility, and reach of the most commonly used 
forms of distance learning in low resource contexts. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:57 Apr 16, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1500.IH
H1500
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS