UNESCO-UNICEF-World Bank Survey on National Education Responses to COVID-19 School Closures – Key Results (2nd Iteration)

Results released for the 2nd iteration of the UNESCO-UNICEF-World Bank survey to monitor national education responses to COVID-19 school closures.

As part of the coordinated global education response to the COVID-19 pandemic, UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank jointly launched the Survey on National Education Responses to COVID-19 School Closures to enable policy makers to assess the global impact of the pandemic.

The second iteration of the survey was launched in July with a focus on Member States’ plans for school reopening, actions taken to ensure that children and teachers had the resources required for distance education, support for teachers and parents, and financial resources required for the national education response to the pandemic. The results are disaggregated by country income group.

Summary of findings of the 2nd iteration: 

• More than two-thirds of countries have fully or partially reopened their schools. However, 1 in 4 (mainly low- and lower-middle income countries) have missed their planned reopening date or not yet set a date for reopening.
• Only 1 in 5 low income countries reported counting remote learnings days as official school days, compared to three-quarters of countries globally.
• A quarter of low- and lower-middle income countries are not tracking children’s learning.
• Nearly all responding countries have produced or endorsed specific health and hygiene guidelines and measures for schools.
• More than 90% of countries have taken measures to support schoolchildren at risk of being excluded from distance learning, most commonly learners with disabilities. However, 1 in 3 of low-income countries were not introducing any measures to support access or inclusion for those at risk of exclusion.
• More than 90% of high- and upper-middle income respondents required teachers to continue teaching during school closures, compared to less than 40% of low-income country respondents.

Key results of the second iteration of the survey in graph form (as illustrated below) can be found here.

The full report can be found here. 

• A first wave of data collection started in May and closed in mid-June. For results click here. 
• A second wave of data collection started in July and closed in September.
• A third wave of data collection will start in November and will close in December.