The International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) issued new guidance (on 20th March 2020) to help protect children and schools from transmission of the COVID-19 virus. The guidance provides critical considerations and practical checklists to keep schools safe. It also advises national and local authorities on how to adapt and implement emergency plans for educational facilities.
Table of Contents
Guidance For Closed Schools:
- Ensure the continuity of learning, including remote learning options such as online education strategies and radio broadcasts of academic content, and access to essential services for all children.
- These plans should also include necessary steps for the eventual safe reopening of schools.
Guidance For Open Schools:
- Provide children with information about how to protect themselves;
- Promote best hand washing and hygiene practices and providing hygiene supplies;
- Clean and disinfect school buildings, especially water and sanitation facilities; and
- Increase airflow and ventilation.
The guidance, while specific to countries that have already confirmed the transmission of COVID-19, is still relevant in all other contexts. Education can encourage students to become advocates for disease prevention and control at home, in school, and in their community by talking to others about how to prevent the spread of viruses. Maintaining safe school operations or reopening schools after a closure, requires many considerations, but if done well, can promote public health.
For example, safe school guidelines implemented in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone during the outbreak of Ebola virus disease from 2014 to 2016 helped prevent school-based transmissions of the virus.
UNICEF is urging schools – whether open or helping students through remote learning – to provide students with holistic support.
What Information Should School Provide to Students?
Schools should provide children with vital information on:
- hand washing and other measures to protect themselves and their families;
- facilitate mental health support; and
- help to prevent stigma and discrimination by encouraging students to be kind to each other and avoid stereotypes when talking about the virus:
Helpful Tips and Checklists for Parents, Caregivers and Children:
- Monitor children’s health and keeping them home from school if they are ill;
- Encourage children to ask questions and express their concerns; and
- Cough or sneeze into a tissue or your elbow and avoid touching your face, eyes, mouth and nose.
The purpose of this document is to provide clear and actionable guidance for safe operations through the prevention, early detection and control of COVID-19 in schools and other educational facilities. The guidance, while specific to countries that have already confirmed the transmission of COVID-19, is relevant in all other contexts. Education can encourage students to become advocates for disease prevention and control at home, in school and in their community by talking to others about how to prevent the spread of viruses. Maintaining safe school operations or reopening schools after a closure requires many considerations but, if done well, can promote public health.