Weighing up the risks: School closure and reopening under COVID-19-- When, Why, and What Impacts?

  • A Advocacy Campaign/Project

? Activity Status: Unknown

Key Information

This policy paper is aimed primarily at decision-makers (ministries of education, social welfare, and health and their associated partners) and reviews the impacts of school closures on children and youth’s holistic well-being, specifically in terms of education, protection, and health. It proposes that the decision-making process regarding school closure/ reopening review a variety of risks, not just health risks. To that end, this paper asks the following fundamental questions:

a. Are children and youth able to learn effectively when out of school?

b. Are children and youth better protected in or out of school?

c. Are most children and youth safer health-wise in or out of school?

Lead Implementing Organization(s)

Location(s)

Global

Activity URL

https://www.eccnetwork.net/resources/weighing-risks-school-closure-and-reopening-under-covid-19

Government Affiliation

Non-governmental program

Years

2020 -

Partner(s)

The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action

Ministry Affiliation

Unknown

Funder(s)

Not applicable or unknown

COVID-19 Response

New for COVID-19

Geographic Scope

Global / regional

Meets gender-transformative education criteria from the TES  

Unknown

Areas of Work Back to Top

Education areas

Attainment

  • Primary enrollment
  • Secondary Enrollment

Quality

  • Curricula/lesson plans
  • School facilities
  • School quality
  • School-related gender-based violence

Skills

  • Literacy
  • Numeracy

Cross-cutting areas

  • Adolescent pregnancy/childbearing
  • COVID-19 Response
  • Early/child marriage
  • Economic/livelihoods (including savings/financial inclusion, etc.)
  • Emergencies and protracted crises
  • Female genital mutilation/cutting
  • Gender equality
  • Nutrition
  • Other aspects of sexual and reproductive health
  • Sexual harassment & coercion
  • Social and gender norms and beliefs
  • Violence (at home, in relationships)
  • WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene)

Program participants

Target Audience(s)

Boys (both in school and out of school), Girls (both in school and out of school), Youth

Age

5 - 18

School Enrolment Status

Some in school

School Level

  • Lower primary
  • Upper primary
  • Lower secondary
  • Upper secondary

Other populations reached

Not applicable or unknown

Participants include

Not applicable or unknown

Program Approaches Back to Top

Access to school

  • Alternative learning centers/mobile schools/home schools

Community engagement/advocacy/sensitization

  • Community-based monitoring (e.g. school report cards)
  • General awareness-raising/community engagement
  • School management committees

Curriculum/learning

  • Gender-sensitive curricula

Facilities construction/improvement

  • Construction/improvement of classrooms

Health and childcare services

  • Adolescent-friendly health services
  • Referrals to health services
  • School-based clinics
  • Sexual and reproductive health services (including family planning)

Life skills education

  • Gender, rights and power
  • Sexual and reproductive health (including puberty education)
  • Social and emotional learning (SEL) skills building

Mentoring/psychosocial support

  • School-based counselors

Other

  • Other activities to address/end violence (not captured above)
  • Other activities to end child marriage (not captured above)
  • Other activities to end FGM (not captured above)

School-related gender-based violence

  • Safe and welcoming schools
  • Safe channels/mechanisms for reporting violence
  • Support in and around schools (e.g. peer counseling, adult-to-student counseling)
  • Violence prevention curriculum/activities for students

Social/gender norms change

  • Engaging parents/caregivers of students or school-age children/adolescents

Teaching

  • Teaching materials (e.g. lesson plans, curricula)

Tutoring/strengthening academic skills

  • Literacy - in the classroom
  • Literacy - outside the classroom
  • Numeracy - in the classroom
  • Numeracy - outside the classroom

Show More

Program Goals Back to Top

Education goals

  • Improved academic skills (literacy and numeracy)
  • Increased enrolment in primary school
  • Increased re-enrolment in school among out-of-school children
  • Increased secondary school enrolment
  • Reduced absenteeism
  • Reduced grade repetition

Cross-cutting goals

  • Improved health - other
  • Improved nutrition
  • Improved sexual and reproductive health
  • Improved understanding of sexual harassment, coercion, and consent
  • Increased knowledge of HIV, puberty, and sexual and reproductive health
  • More equitable gender attitudes and norms
  • Reduced adolescent pregnancy/childbearing
  • Reduced child marriage
  • Reduced poverty/increase household well-being
  • Reduced school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV)
  • Reduced violence against children in the home

Additional Information Back to Top

Primary Contact

Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE)