Impacts of health-related school closures on child protection outcomes: A review of evidence from past pandemics and epidemics and lessons learned for COVID-19

. 2021 May 9;84:102431. doi: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102431

Facilitating access to school for children from the poorest household
After Ebola, the Sierra Leone government waived school and examination fees for two years to motivate parents and communities to send all children back to school (Taulo, 2020). This was especially important because during the crisis many children were obliged to sell goods in informal markets, which resulted in an increase in child labor (2020). What is more, with the support of development partners, the government scaled-up school feeding programmes, as the poorest families had been unable to work during the Ebola quarantine and food security became a serious issue. In Cameroon, where all schools have been closed since mid-March 2020 because of COVID-19 (and briefly opened on June 1 st for those sitting in exams), non-formal education programmes have been allowed to continue to operate in the most vulnerable zones of the country, including urban pockets that have a higher rate of COVID-19 transmission as well as border areas with an inflow of refugees and conflict areas.

Facilitating access to school for children from the poorest household

After Ebola, the Sierra Leone government waived school and examination fees for two years to motivate parents and communities to send all children back to school (Taulo, 2020). This was especially important because during the crisis many children were obliged to sell goods in informal markets, which resulted in an increase in child labor (2020). What is more, with the support of development partners, the government scaled-up school feeding programmes, as the poorest families had been unable to work during the Ebola quarantine and food security became a serious issue. In Cameroon, where all schools have been closed since mid-March 2020 because of COVID-19 (and briefly opened on June 1 st for those sitting in exams), non-formal education programmes have been allowed to continue to operate in the most vulnerable zones of the country, including urban pockets that have a higher rate of COVID-19 transmission as well as border areas with an inflow of refugees and conflict areas.