COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only brought the loss of many lives and exerted severe pressure on health systems, it has also had a negative impact on livelihoods of disadvantaged people, leading governments to close schools. Explore the timing, strategies and duration of school closures around the world.
Global monitoring of school closures
The timing of and the strategies for reopening schools varies between countries. Explore national education responses to school closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic from pre-primary to upper secondary levels and see the strategies adopted to mitigate the impact of school closures and prepare the reopening of schools through time.
Note: Figures correspond to number of learners enrolled at pre-primary, primary, lower-secondary, and upper-secondary levels of education [ISCED levels 0 to 3], as well as at tertiary education levels [ISCED levels 5 to 8]. Enrolment figures based on latest UNESCO Institute for Statistics data. See methodological note.
Total duration of school closures
Since the beginning of the pandemic, school closure decisions have evolved, as reflected through the data collected by the UNESCO school closures tracker. In March 2020, a drastic decision to close schools affected the vast majority of students, about 1.6 billion. As countries gradually controlled the spread of the virus, schools reopened, fully or partially. See the total duration of school closures due to COVID-19 by exploring the map.
No Data
0 weeks
1-10 weeks
11-20 weeks
21-30 weeks
31-40 weeks
41+ weeks
Note: as of October 2021
Country Dashboard
The dashboard shows the evolution of school status by country, the main educational aggregates, and the types of remote learning strategies among other characteristics of the country.
