117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1500 
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. 
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 finds the following: 
(1) Before the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (com-
monly referred to as ‘‘COVID–19’’) pandemic began, 
258,000,000 children were out of school globally, in-
cluding 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-
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 through 17, 
do not have internet connection in their homes, and 
schools and local learning centers also frequently 
have inadequate internet connectivity. Eighty per-
cent of students in sub-Saharan Africa lack such ac-
cess, 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-
nancing gap of $77,000,000,000 in low- and middle- 
income countries over the next 2 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 low- 
and middle-income countries should seek to— 
(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 
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 United States Agency for International 
Development 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 impact of COVID–19 
on such basic education programs, including the 
magnitude of learning loss that will result from pro-
tracted school closures and the specific effects of
school and learning space closures on marginalized 
children and youth, including girls, minority popu-
lations, displaced children, and those with disabil-
ities. 
(2) An assessment comparing academic out-
comes of beneficiaries of United States Agency for 
International Development basic education pro-
grams, as practical and appropriate, between those 
that attend schools that remain closed or continue to 
operate remotely since the start of the COVID–19 
pandemic and schools that have resumed in-person 
instruction. 
(3) A description of the effectiveness, cost, ac-
cessibility, and reach of the most commonly used 
forms of distance learning in low- and middle-income 
countries and low-resource contexts. 
(4) A description of efforts to pivot and adapt 
such basic education programs during the COVID– 
19 pandemic, including an overview of existing data 
on funding and programmatic focus disaggregated 
by gender, country, education level, and disability. 
(5) An 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. 
(6) A description of the United States Agency 
for International Development’s plan and needed au-
thorities and resources to prevent degradation of 
such basic education programs and to support, as 
necessary and appropriate, continued distance learn-
ing interventions, safe school reopenings, assess-
ments of student learning levels, remedial and accel-
erated learning, re-enrollment campaigns for out-of- 
school children and youth, and education system 
strengthening and resilience-building efforts. 
(7) An analysis of the coordination between the 
United States Agency for International Development 
and other actors in global basic education policy and 
programming to provide education during the 
COVID–19 pandemic, including partner organiza-
tions, faith based-organizations, donors, and multi-
lateral organizations. 
(8) A description of opportunities to partner 
and support efforts to expand access to digital infra-
structure, internet connectivity, and learning re-
sources in areas that lack access to digital and re-
mote learning infrastructure and resources, includ-
ing rural and remote communities.
(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 con-
gressional committees’’ means— 
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 
Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep-
resentatives; and 
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 
the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate. 
Passed the House of Representatives June 29, 2021. 
Attest: 
Clerk.