[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 54 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 54
Affirming the role of the United States in improving access to quality,
inclusive public education and improving learning outcomes for children
and adolescents, particularly for girls, around the world.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 24, 2023
Ms. Meng (for herself, Ms. Barragan, Mr. Bera, Mr. Bishop of Georgia,
Mr. Bowman, Ms. Brown, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Mr. Case, Ms. Clarke of
New York, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Crow, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mrs.
Dingell, Mr. Evans, Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida, Ms. Garcia of Texas,
Mr. Gottheimer, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Himes, Ms. Houlahan, Mr. Johnson of
Georgia, Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Mr. Lieu, Ms. McCollum,
Mr. McGovern, Mr. Morelle, Mr. Moulton, Ms. Norton, Ms. Omar, Mr.
Payne, Mr. Peters, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Pressley, Ms. Ross, Mr. Ruiz, Ms.
Salazar, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Titus, Ms. Tokuda, Ms. Velazquez, Ms.
Wasserman Schultz, and Mrs. Watson Coleman) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Affirming the role of the United States in improving access to quality,
inclusive public education and improving learning outcomes for children
and adolescents, particularly for girls, around the world.
Whereas the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed January 24 as the
International Day of Education, in celebration of the role of education
for peace and development;
Whereas the theme of the fifth International Day of Education is ``to invest in
people, prioritize education'';
Whereas access to quality education reduces poverty, advances economic
prosperity, improves peace and security, and strengthens public health,
and poverty is one of the most striking factors that impedes the
attainment of foundational learning skills, particularly with regard to
reading;
Whereas foundational learning is an essential first step to enable children and
young people to access more advanced learning and skills, and children
who cannot read and understand a simple text will struggle to learn
anything else in school and they are more likely to repeat a grade and
drop out of school;
Whereas at its peak, COVID-19-related school closures affected more than 94
percent of the world's students, representing 1,580,000,000 children and
youth, from preprimary to higher education, in 200 countries;
Whereas an estimated 147,000,000 children have missed more than half of their
in-class instruction over the past 2 years due to school closures caused
by the COVID-19 pandemic;
Whereas this generation of children, affected by disruptions to education
because of the pandemic, could lose a combined total of
$17,000,000,000,000 in lifetime earnings;
Whereas, before COVID-19, primary enrollment for girls had increased by 65
percent; now an estimated 129 million girls worldwide remain out of
school and face multiple barriers to education, and investments in
addressing the challenges that are keeping girls out of school are
critical investments in global prosperity;
Whereas approximately 222,000,000 school-aged children are affected by crises,
of which 78,200,000 are out of school and 119,600,000 are not achieving
minimum competencies in mathematics and reading despite attending
school;
Whereas at the end of 2021, an estimated (41 percent) 36,500,000 of the world's
89,300,000 refugees, internally displaced persons, and other forcibly
displaced persons were children and an estimated 68 percent of refugee
children were enrolled at the primary level, but only 37 percent were
enrolled at the secondary level;
Whereas there remains a need to close the gap between refugees and their peers
in the area of higher education;
Whereas the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) should
expand access to distance learning materials and technology, support
safe school reopening plans, including reenrollment campaigns for out-
of-school children and youth, and prioritize assessments of student
learning levels, remedial and accelerated learning, and curriculum
adaptation, and renew efforts to reach marginalized students, including
girls, children with disabilities, and those living in displaced persons
camps, in line with the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 (Public
Law 117-229);
Whereas for every $1 invested in girls' education, as much of $2.80 is generated
in economic growth, equating to billions of dollars in additional GDP
growth, and in contrast, failing to educate girls is costing countries
between $15,000,000,000,000 and $30,000,000,000,000 in lost lifetime
productivity and earnings;
Whereas even as domestic resources are taken into account, the annual financing
gap over 2015-2030 for reaching quality universal preprimary, primary,
and secondary education in low and lower middle income countries is
$39,000,000,000;
Whereas continued and increased bilateral educational support from the United
States Government, as well as multilateral partnerships like the Global
Partnership for Education (GPE) and Education Cannot Wait (ECW), play a
critical role in helping marginalized children and adolescents build a
future for themselves and the communities in which they live;
Whereas in fiscal year 2021, USAID global education programs reached more than
33,400,000 learners in 73 countries and assisted more than 113,000
schools at the preprimary, primary, and secondary levels;
Whereas the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is a proven and effective aid
delivery mechanism that complements the United States Government's
bilateral basic education programs by fostering coordination among all
key partners, supporting the development and implementation of strong
national education sector plans, and building on the commitment of
developing country governments to expand quality educational
opportunities for children in an equitable manner;
Whereas the United States Government's annual support for GPE has had a
transformative impact in the lives of children around the world, and
since GPE's inception in 2002, 160,000,000 more children, more than half
of them girls, are in school in GPE's 85 partner countries;
Whereas the United States pledged $305,000,000 over 3 years to the Global
Partnership for Education at its 2021 Global Education Summit;
Whereas ECW is at the forefront of efforts to increase access to education in
crisis settings, and since its inception in 2016, ECW has reached
6,900,000 children and adolescents; provided education materials and
textbooks to over 4,200,000 children; strengthened equity and gender
equality by reaching 3,300,000 girls; supported the training of 87,367
teachers and administrators; doubled the number of teachers trained on
mental health and psychosocial support; and developed 24 Multi-Year
Resilience Programs and disbursed 199 First Emergency Response grants;
Whereas the United States has been central to the success of ECW, as the third
largest donor to ECW currently, and continued support will be critical
if ECW is to meet its 2023-2026 Strategic Plan goals;
Whereas the private sector is an important partner to USAID and the Department
of State in reaching international education goals as evidenced by a
2019 joint pledge of $12,500,000 to Education Cannot Wait by LEGO
Foundation to bring quality learning experiences to children in
emergency situations;
Whereas the United States Government has long been a leader in global education
and has made global commitments to improve access to education and
learning for at least 15,000,000 girls globally by 2025;
Whereas the United States has also endorsed the Commitment to Action on
Foundational Learning as developed with World Bank, UNICEF, and USAID
during the 2022 United Nations Transforming Education Summit, committing
to taking urgent and decisive action to ensure all children develop the
foundational skills needed to reduce the global share of children unable
to read and understand a simple text by age 10, by half, by 2030;
Whereas USAID made 16 commitments to be achieved by 2026 at the Global
Disability Summit, including commitments to promote disability-inclusive
education, strengthen disability data for education programming, promote
the Universal Design for Learning approach in all new education
programs, and increase disability-inclusive initiatives at all levels of
education, from preprimary through higher education programming;
Whereas Congress has long supported strong bipartisan funding for the
International Basic Education program at USAID; however the President's
annual Budget Request for international basic education funding has been
lower than the previously congressionally appropriated level since 2004;
Whereas Congress passed the Reinforcing Education Accountability in Development
(READ) Act (Division A, Public Law 115-56), in 2017 to demonstrate the
United States Government's commitment to improve access to education
around the world and ensure individuals around the world have the
education and skills needed to be productive members of society and the
workforce; and
Whereas the authorities under the READ Act expire at the end of fiscal year
2023: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) commends the leadership and commitment of the United
States Government to improve access to quality, inclusive
education and improved learning outcomes for the poorest and
most marginalized children and adolescents worldwide, which
promotes global stability, economic prosperity, and poverty
elimination;
(2) recognizes that United States Government investments in
bilateral basic education are complemented by Global
Partnership for Education's education systems-level approach
and partnership building and Education Cannot Wait's focus on
education in emergencies and protracted crises;
(3) encourages the United States Government to integrate
education in all humanitarian response efforts--both bilateral
and multilateral--and continue to promote coordination across
all sectors and branches of the United States Government;
(4) implores the United States Government to meet its
various commitments to international basic education through
its annual budget requests to Congress and to expand bilateral
and multilateral support recognizing the significant global
need;
(5) calls on the Secretary of State and the Administrator
of the United States Agency for International Development to
use all diplomatic, humanitarian, and development means,
including via high-level leadership in multilaterals, and
global convenings, to promote access to quality education for
children and adolescents throughout the world; and
(6) calls on the Secretary of State and the Administrator
of the United States Agency for International Development to
commit to prioritizing quality, inclusive public education for
children and youth with disabilities, girls, children and youth
in emergency and crisis settings, and traditionally
marginalized groups as a critical component to learning equity,
poverty elimination, and global stability and prosperity.
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