MCA and COVID-19: educational institutions
This page provides a directory of guidelines and resources from WHO and other UN agencies related to COVID-19 and educational institutions. Resources for policy makers from health and education sectors, educational staff, parents and students are available.
- Public health and social measures
- Masks
- Ventilation
- Vaccinations
- Case investigation in schools
- School readiness
- Maintaining continuity of learning during school closures
- Maintaining essential health promotion and care services
- Situation updates
- Resources for students
- Resources for parents
- Health promotion in schools
Public health and social measures
This document provides guidance on assessing the situation at national and sub-national levels, as well as key recommendations about the implementation of PHSM for public health and health services decision-makers at all operational levels. The document also includes brief guidance on school reopening in relation to situation assessment using transmission level and response capacity.
This document provides guidance on running schools safely (or ensuring continuity of education for children for their overall welfare) for policy makers and educators. The document highlights guidance on school readiness, prevention and control measures (physical distancing, mask use, ventilation, hygiene, and screening) and other aspects including remote learning and monitoring school operations.
The purpose of this school preparation checklist is to enhance compliance and adherence with the public health measures outlined in “Considerations for school-related public health measures in the context of COVID-19”, particularly taking into consideration children under the age of 18 years in educational settings and schools with limited resources.
Resources from other UN agencies
This document describes how the education system can prevent, prepare for and respond to health emergencies and pandemics.
Masks
Considerations for school-related public health measures in the context of COVID-19 (14 September 2020)
This document provides guidance on running schools safely (or ensuring continuity of education for children for their overall welfare) for policy makers and educators and includes a section on face mask use in schools.
This document provides guidance to decision makers, public and child health professionals to inform policy on the use of face masks for children in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It does not address the use of face masks for adults working with children or parents/guardians or the use of face masks for children in health-care settings.
Ventilation
Considerations for school-related public health measures in the context of COVID-19 (14 September 2020)
This document provides guidance on running schools safely (or ensuring continuity of education for children for their overall welfare) for policy makers and educators and includes a section on improving ventilation.
Vaccinations
This document builds on the WHO SAGE values framework for the allocation and prioritization of COVID-19 vaccination. The Roadmap is intended to serve as guidance on preparing for vaccine prioritization decisions within countries. Child well-being (including health, development and educational opportunities) is addressed in the Prioritization Roadmap through the prioritized vaccination of other groups that directly contribute to child welfare.
The only product that currently has Emergency Use Listing for older children (age 12 and over) is:
Pfizer – BioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine.
Case investigation in schools
This document describes recommendations for national testing strategies and the use of PCR and rapid antigen tests in different transmission scenarios of the COVID-19 outbreak, including how testing might be rationalized in low resource settings and strong public health responses including isolating those who test positive and providing them care, contact tracing and quarantine of contacts. Testing in schools is also covered.
This document provides updated guidance on how to establish contact tracing capacity for the control of COVID-19, and how to prioritize contact tracing activities in different settings. The document describes that in a closed setting like school community-based solutions should be adopted and school representatives should be consulted. The document also provides guidance on ways to identify contact in school and supporting individuals in quarantine e.g. taking school exams or fulfilling other mandatory functions because of quarantine.
This protocol provides guidance for investigating transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools and other educational institutions.
The WHO has provided four early sero-epidemiological investigation protocols. These protocols are designed to rapidly and systematically collect and share data in a format that facilitates aggregation, tabulation and analysis across different settings globally.
School readiness
The purpose of this school preparation checklist is to enhance compliance and adherence with the public health measures outlined in “Considerations for school-related public health measures in the context of COVID-19”, particularly taking into consideration children under the age of 18 years in educational settings and schools with limited resources.
Resources from other UN agencies
This document describes how the education system can prevent, prepare for and respond to health emergencies and pandemics.
This document describes recommendations on when to reopen schools, support national preparations and guide the implementation process, as part of the overall public health and education planning processes in the context of COVID-19. It has four main dimensions: safe operations, focus on learning, wellbeing & protection, and reaching the most marginalized.
As countries have reopened their schools, lessons have emerged on what is working. Some emerging lessons are summarized, following the dimensions of the Framework and highlighting country examples. Sharing these lessons as they develop can help countries strengthen their reopening plans, and ultimately improve the chances of a successful and safer return to in-person learning for all children.
This document provides guidance to stop the spread of covid-19. According to this document, teachers, administration, parents or caregiver and community members should know about COVID-19 symptoms, ensure good hygiene practice, help children cope with stress to maintain a safe school environment.
This document provides guidance to stop the spread of COVID-19 in schools.
Maintaining continuity of learning during school closures
School closures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 have caused unprecedented disruption for nearly 1.6 billion learners across the globe. Beyond alarming effects on learning loss and school dropout, they pose an immediate and long-term threat to gender equality, with gender-specific effects on health, well-being and protection.
This publication exposes these impacts and calls for effective strategies to ensure education continuity, promote gender equality and improve lives and futures.
This is a broad collection of resources to support the provision of education in places affected by COVID-19. It can be browsed by thematic collections, and accessed in español, français, português, العربية.
This white paper aims to develop a common narrative around the impact of COVID-19 on education and key actions needed to protect education. It emphasises the impact of closures on education systems that were already in crisis before the pandemic and outlines a way forward that turns this crisis into an opportunity.
This briefing booklet provides an overview of the impact of COVID-19 on education worldwide following roundtable discussion s with members of parliament. It considers the effect of school closures as well as the impact of the pandemic on learning, equity and financing. Key information and recommendations are provided for each topic.
This series of briefings on COVID-19 and its implications on education was organized by the International Parliamentary Network for Education for MPs, sharing the latest evidence and best practice, and providing MPs with a platform to share their experiences.
This guide focusses on girls’ return to school. Before COVID-19, we were already a long way from gender equality in and through education and this has been exacerbated by the pandemic. This guide builds on the UN Framework for Reopening Schools and the Safe Back to School Practitioners Guide to ‘build back better’ after COVID-19. It goes further, calling for action to ‘build back equal’ – promoting the development of gender-responsive education systems and targeted actions to ensure girls’ continuity of learning and return to school when these reopen.
Maintaining essential health promotion and care services
This document outlines how to maintain essential health services during COVID-19 and has sections on life course and specific disease considerations.
This document provides guidance on running schools safely (or ensuring continuity of education for children for their overall welfare) for policy makers and educators and includes a section on ensuring that school-based and school-linked health services, health promotion, school feeding, care and support services are maintained where possible, while maintaining infection prevention and control.
This document provides guidance to stakeholders in all sectors involved in identifying, planning, funding, implementing, monitoring and evaluating the health-promoting approach in schools. It addresses the need to ensure the continuity of learning and health promotion when schooling is disrupted (see Standards 1, 2), to leverage community support for learning and health promotion during crises (see Standard 4), to ensure equitable digital and distance learning strategies to complement classroom education and health promotion when in-person schooling is disrupted (see Standard 5), and to ensure continuity of health services during distance or virtual learning (see Standard 8).
Resources from other UN agencies
This child protection learning brief examines different strategies to deliver mental health and psychosocial support within different sectors and across different contexts. It is intended to assist UNICEF country offices and practitioners as they respond to the impact of COVID-19 on children and families.
School closures and the wider socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 have disrupted children’s normal support systems, leaving them more vulnerable to illnesses and child protection risks. This guide includes checklists and technical annexes and is aimed to help coordination and program teams plan an integrated, participatory process for safe school reopening.
This policy brief is targeted at policymakers and practitioners working in gender, education and child protection fields. It draws from emerging evidence on the gendered implications of COVID-19 on violence as well as research from previous health emergencies regarding the impacts of school closures on gender-based violence. It may be used to advocate for improved attention to school-related gender-based violence.
Situation updates
Understanding symptoms, infectivity and patterns of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in children and adolescents is essential for developing, adapting and improving control measures in schools for COVID-19 across different age groups. This is a summary of the current knowledge around SARS-CoV-2 infection acquisition and transmission and COVID-19 disease symptoms in children and adolescents. It aims to inform decisions, based on local contexts, on how to best keep schools, kindergarten and day-care facilities open and what advice to apply to intergenerational mixing.
This survey by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) collects information on national education responses to school closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey is conducted on a regular basis to ensure that the latest impacts and responses are captured. Data from the third wave of data collection from February to April 2021 is available.
The Weekly Epidemiological Update provides an overview of the global, regional and country-level COVID-19 cases and deaths, highlighting key data and trends; as well as other pertinent epidemiological information concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 Weekly Operational Update reports on WHO and partners’ actions in response to the pandemic.
For the latest data and information on COVID-19, please see also:
Media resources
Resources for students
WHO has compiled these documents as a resource for parents, students, teachers and school management. They cover COVID-19 disease and transmission in children, considerations for opening schools, and checklists for parents and students.
The project was supported by global, regional and country based experts from Member Agencies of the IASC MHPSS RG, in addition to parents, caregivers, teachers and children in 104 countries. A global survey was distributed in Arabic, English, Italian, French and Spanish to assess children’s mental health and psychosocial needs during the COVID-19 outbreak. A framework of topics to be addressed through the story was developed using the survey results. This is a story developed for and by children around the world.
The COVID-19 pandemic will have long-lasting social, cultural, economic, political and multidimensional impacts on the whole of societies, including young people. This statement is a call to action for young people to recognise their potential to advance the fight against the pandemic. It explores how this can be achieved, including through enhancing connections, inclusion and supporting others.
WHO in collaboration with PMNCH and other partners hosts a series of webinars with youth-led organizations and other interested stakeholders, to address the most pressing information needs of the global adolescents, share learnings and best practices around a health and well-being topic chosen by adolescents themselves.
This guidance note explores the impacts of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on young people. It then proposes a series of actions that practitioners and young people can take to ensure that COVID-19 preparedness, response plans and actions, are youth-inclusive and youth-focused.
EPI-WIN seeks to give everyone access to timely, accurate, and easy-to-understand advice and information from trusted sources on public health events and outbreaks: currently the COVID-19 public health emergency. Webinars on mental health and psychosocial wellbeing and other relevant topics are available.
Resources from other UN agencies
This guidance note explores the impacts of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on young people. It then proposes a series of actions that practitioners and young people can take to ensure that COVID-19 preparedness, response plans and actions, are youth-inclusive and youth-focused.
Resources for parents
WHO has compiled these documents as a resource for parents, students, teachers and school management. They cover COVID-19 disease and transmission in children, considerations for opening schools, and checklists for parents and students.
WHO teamed up with the Parenting for Lifelong Health initiative to bring parents and caregivers a set of handy tips. These are a set of posters to help parents interact constructively with their children during this time of confinement.
Resources from other UN agencies
UNICEF Parenting is here to be your partner in navigating this health crisis by providing you with accurate, reliable information on the best ways to keep your family safe. Includes videos and articles on parenting in the pandemic, what parents should know, how to stay safe, and how to support children with various aspects of COVID-19.
This document provides tips for parents to help explain COVID-19 vaccination to children. It describes the importance of asking and listening to children’s ideas and concerns, being honest with them, and making sure that as parents they are up to date themselves to provide accurate information.
UNICEF is working with health experts to promote facts over fear, bringing trustworthy guidance and answering some of the questions that families might have on COVID-19 infection and disease, vaccination, and keeping safe.
This document explains that stress can cause temporary regression in young children. It describes the different types of regression that are common, explains for parents that they are far from alone with these experiences, and provides expert advice for how best to manage it.
Health promotion in schools
This document provides guidance to stakeholders in all sectors involved in identifying, planning, funding, implementing, monitoring and evaluating the health-promoting approach in schools. It addresses the need to ensure the continuity of learning and health promotion when schooling is disrupted (see Standards 1, 2), to leverage community support for learning and health promotion during crises (see Standard 4), to ensure equitable digital and distance learning strategies to complement classroom education and health promotion when in-person schooling is disrupted (see Standard 5), and to ensure continuity of health services during distance or virtual learning (see Standard 8).
This publication describes enablers of implementation, maintenance and scaling-up of the health-promoting school approach. Its aim is to guide adaptation and implementation of the global standards for HPS.
This document summarizes the experiences of eight countries spread across the world in implementing health promoting schools approaches.
Resources from other UN agencies
This document provides guidance on the importance of investing in the wellbeing of children to avert the learning crisis.
This document provides guidance on how to step up school health and nutrition.
Other resources
This report makes the case for integrating health and health promotion activities into education systems.