An act to enhance the transparency, improve the coordination, and intensify the impact of assistance to support access to primary and secondary education for displaced children and persons, including women and girls, and for other purposes
PL 115-442 (S.1580), enacted 01/14/2019

132 STAT. 5590 
PUBLIC LAW 115–442—JAN. 14, 2019 
Public Law 115–442 
115th Congress 
An Act 
To enhance the transparency, improve the coordination, and intensify the impact 
of assistance to support access to primary and secondary education for displaced 
children and persons, including women and girls, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Girls’ Access to Edu-
cation in Vulnerable Settings Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) As of June 2018, more than 68,000,000 people have 
been displaced by disasters and conflicts around the world, 
the highest number recorded since the end of World War II, 
of which more than 25,000,000 people are refugees. 
(2) More than half of the population of refugees are children 
and, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for 
Refugees, nearly 4,000,000 school-aged refugee children lack 
access to primary education. 
(3) Education offers socioeconomic opportunities, psycho-
logical stability, and physical protection for displaced people, 
particularly for women and girls, who might otherwise be 
vulnerable to severe forms of trafficking in persons (as such 
term is defined in section 103(9) of the Trafficking Victims 
Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(9)), child marriage, 
sexual exploitation, or economic disenfranchisement. 
(4) Displaced children face considerable barriers to 
accessing educational services and, because the duration of 
such displacement is, on average, 26 years, such children may 
spend the entirety of their childhood without access to such 
services. 
(5) Despite the rising need for educational services, as 
of 2016, less than two percent of humanitarian aid was directed 
toward educational services. 
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) it is critical to ensure that children, particularly girls, 
displaced by conflicts overseas are able to access educational 
services because such access can combat extremism and reduce 
exploitation and poverty; and 
22 USC 2151c–1 
note. 
Protecting Girls’ 
Access to 
Education in 
Vulnerable 
Settings Act. 
22 USC 2151 
note. 
Jan. 14, 2019 
[S. 1580] 
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132 STAT. 5591 
PUBLIC LAW 115–442—JAN. 14, 2019 
(2) the educational needs of vulnerable women and girls 
should be considered in the design, implementation, and evalua-
tion of related United States foreign assistance policies and 
programs. 
SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States to— 
(1) partner with and encourage other countries, public and 
private multilateral institutions, and nongovernmental and civil 
society organizations, including faith-based organizations and 
organizations representing parents and children, to support 
efforts to ensure that displaced children have access to safe 
primary and secondary education; 
(2) work with donors to enhance training and capacity- 
building for the governments of countries hosting significant 
numbers of displaced people to design, implement, and monitor 
programs to effectively address barriers to such education; and 
(3) coordinate with the governments of countries hosting 
significant numbers of displaced people to— 
(A) promote the inclusion of displaced children into 
the educational systems of such countries; and 
(B) in circumstances in which such inclusion is difficult, 
develop innovative approaches to providing safe primary 
and secondary educational opportunities, such as encour-
aging schools to permit children to be educated by 
extending the hours of schooling or expanding the number 
of teachers. 
SEC. 5. UNITED STATES ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT EDUCATIONAL 
SERVICES FOR DISPLACED CHILDREN. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State and the Administrator 
of the United States Agency for International Development are 
authorized to prioritize and advance ongoing efforts to support 
programs that— 
(1) provide safe primary and secondary education for dis-
placed children; 
(2) build the capacity of institutions in countries hosting 
displaced people to prevent discrimination against displaced 
children, especially displaced girls, who seek access to such 
education; and 
(3) help increase the access of displaced children, especially 
displaced girls, to educational, economic, and entrepreneurial 
opportunities, including through the governmental authorities 
responsible for educational or youth services in such host coun-
tries. 
(b) COORDINATION WITH MULTILATERAL ORGANIZATIONS.—The 
Secretary and the Administrator are authorized to coordinate with 
the World Bank, appropriate agencies of the United Nations, and 
other relevant multilateral organizations to work with governments 
in other countries to collect relevant data, disaggregated by age 
and gender, on the ability of displaced people to access education 
and participate in economic activity, in order to improve the tar-
geting, monitoring, and evaluation of related assistance efforts. 
(c) COORDINATION WITH PRIVATE SECTOR AND CIVIL SOCIETY 
ORGANIZATIONS.—The Secretary and the Administrator are author-
ized to work with private sector and civil society organizations 
to promote safe primary and secondary education for displaced 
children. 
22 USC 2151c–1. 
Coordination. 
22 USC 2151c–1 
note. 
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132 STAT. 5592 
PUBLIC LAW 115–442—JAN. 14, 2019 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 1580: 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 164 (2018): 
Dec. 12, considered and passed Senate. 
Dec. 21, considered and passed House. 
SEC. 6. REPORT. 
The Secretary and the Administrator shall include in the report 
required under section 7 of the READ Act (division A of Public 
Law 115–56; 22 U.S.C. 2151c note) a description of any primary 
or secondary educational services supported by programs for natural 
or manmade disaster relief or response that specifically address 
the needs of displaced girls. 
Approved January 14, 2019. 
22 USC 2151c 
note. 
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