[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 286 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 286

 Supporting the role of the United States in ensuring children in the 
poorest countries have access to a quality education through the Global 
                       Partnership for Education.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 5, 2017

    Mr. Booker (for himself and Mr. Rubio) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Supporting the role of the United States in ensuring children in the 
poorest countries have access to a quality education through the Global 
                       Partnership for Education.

Whereas access to quality education reduces poverty, advances economic 
        prosperity, improves peace and security, and strengthens public health;
Whereas the 2016 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, the globally 
        recognized annual accountability tool on the status of education 
        internationally, found that an estimated 263,000,000 children and youth 
        are out of school worldwide, with girls still more likely to be out of 
        school than their male peers in most of the developing world;
Whereas a 2015 GEM Report found that two-thirds of the world's out-of-school 
        children live in countries affected by fragility and conflict;
Whereas a 2016 GEM Report found that sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with 
        the highest out-of-school rates for all age groups and of the 61,000,000 
        out-of-school children of primary school age, 33,000,000, or more than 
        half, live in sub-Saharan Africa;
Whereas the 2011 World Health Organization's World Report on Disability has 
        found an estimated 90 percent of children with disabilities under age 18 
        in the developing world do not attend school;
Whereas a 2012 GEM Report found that 250,000,000 primary schoolchildren are 
        failing to learn basic literacy and numeracy skills, 130,000,000 of whom 
        have attended at least four years of school;
Whereas a 2011 GEM Report found that educating all students in low-income 
        countries with basic reading skills could lead to 171,000,000 people 
        lifted out of poverty, a 12 percent drop in global poverty;
Whereas a 1999 World Bank study on conflict found every year of school decreases 
        the chance of male youth engaging in violent conflict by 20 percent;
Whereas a 2011 GEM Report reported that an educated mother is more likely to 
        have her children vaccinated, and girls in school are three times less 
        likely to be infected with HIV than their peers who are not in school;
Whereas the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is the only public-private 
        global partnership exclusively dedicated to education in the world's 
        poorest countries;
Whereas GPE eligible countries are home to approximately 870,000,000 children 
        and youth, which represent 78 percent of out-of-school children;
Whereas GPE support resulted in 72,000,000 more children in primary school in 
        2015 than in 2002 and a 10 percent increase in primary school completion 
        over that same period in GPE partner countries;
Whereas GPE support to partner countries has achieved a 71 percent primary 
        completion rate for girls in 2014 compared with 56 percent in 2002;
Whereas 60 percent of GPE's spending is in countries affected by conflict or 
        fragility and helped these countries to increase their primary school 
        completion rates from 56 percent in 2000 to 69 percent in 2015;
Whereas GPE incentivizes developing country governments to increase their own 
        domestic financing for education, which has resulted in partner 
        countries pledging $26,000,000,000 for their own domestic financing 
        during GPE's 2014 replenishment conference;
Whereas support for GPE complements the United States Government's bilateral 
        basic education programs by fostering coordination among all key 
        partners, ensuring the development of national education sector plans, 
        and building on the commitment of developing country governments;
Whereas, on April 20, 2017, GPE called on donors and developing country partners 
        to fund a $3,100,000,000, three-year plan to support 89 developing 
        countries in improving the quality of and access to education for 
        870,000,000 children and youth and provide education plan implementation 
        grants to 67 developing countries, covering 64 percent of out-of-school 
        children;
Whereas GPE is urging developing country governments to allocate 20 percent of 
        government expenditure to education and philanthropic and private sector 
        donors to increase their contributions; and
Whereas, with support from donors, GPE will be able to ensure 19,000,000 more 
        children complete primary school, 6,600,000 more children complete lower 
        secondary school, 1,700,000 more teachers are trained, 23,800 classrooms 
        are built, and 204,000,000 textbooks are distributed, bringing new hope 
        to a generation of children and youth: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) affirms the leadership and commitment of the United 
        States Government to improving access to quality education for 
        the poorest and most marginalized children and youth worldwide, 
        which is critical to global stability, economic prosperity, and 
        poverty elimination;
            (2) supports the mission and goals of the Global 
        Partnership for Education (GPE) to mobilize global and national 
        efforts to contribute to the achievement of equitable, quality 
        education and learning, with a focus on effective and efficient 
        education systems and strong education financing;
            (3) recognizes that United States Government investments in 
        bilateral basic education are complemented by GPE's education 
        systems approach and convening authority; and
            (4) encourages increased commitment and investment by the 
        United States Government, international donors, private 
        foundations, and private sector donors through the GPE to the 
        global effort to ensure children and youth are in school and 
        learning throughout the world.
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