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

Drawing on lessons from natural disasters and conflicts
Natural disasters constitute an opportunity to build upon systems to guarantee the protection and well-being of children, providing the impetus to develop or reactivate policies and approaches. In Indonesia and Sri Lanka, for example, the recovery phase after the 2004 tsunami paved the way for a strengthened child protection system: child protection issues were elevated on the national policy agenda and relevant human capacity and budgetary resources were improved (UNICEF, 2009). Basic steps taken to prevent exploitation were especially fruitful in the province of Aceh, which had the largest death toll in the country (2009). During the emergency phase, the police helped to protect children by patrolling exit points and crowded areas, such as airports and ports (2009). Subsequent interactions between child protection actors and the police created new entry points to strengthen the juvenile justice system, including the establishment of women’s and children’s police units in all districts (2009). Further examples can be taken from community led initiatives to continue children’s learning safely during conflict. In Colombia, where armed conflict has affected access to school, programmes such as La escuela busca al niño (the school finds the child) have been implemented to target those boys and girls most likely to be out of school due to armed conflict and displacement, providing them with catch up classes and supporting them to eventually enroll in formal schools (CODESOCIAL, 2009). In many cases, communities have devised alternative spaces and programmes to deliver learning safely for children. In 2006, when entire communities in conflict-affected areas in northern Central African Republic fled to avoid fighting and attacks targeting villages, communities established temporary “bush schools” (Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, 2020a). Parents, who were offered short teacher training courses, served as teachers and delivered lessons that attempted to parallel the national curriculum taught in government schools, teaching over 100,000 students under trees (Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, 2020b). Similarly, in northern Syria, temporary schools staffed by volunteer teachers were set up in more secure villages when parents in some areas had been afraid to send their children to their regular local schools (Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, 2020a).

Drawing on lessons from natural disasters and conflicts

Natural disasters constitute an opportunity to build upon systems to guarantee the protection and well-being of children, providing the impetus to develop or reactivate policies and approaches. In Indonesia and Sri Lanka, for example, the recovery phase after the 2004 tsunami paved the way for a strengthened child protection system: child protection issues were elevated on the national policy agenda and relevant human capacity and budgetary resources were improved (UNICEF, 2009). Basic steps taken to prevent exploitation were especially fruitful in the province of Aceh, which had the largest death toll in the country (2009). During the emergency phase, the police helped to protect children by patrolling exit points and crowded areas, such as airports and ports (2009). Subsequent interactions between child protection actors and the police created new entry points to strengthen the juvenile justice system, including the establishment of women’s and children’s police units in all districts (2009).
Further examples can be taken from community led initiatives to continue children’s learning safely during conflict. In Colombia, where armed conflict has affected access to school, programmes such as La escuela busca al niño (the school finds the child) have been implemented to target those boys and girls most likely to be out of school due to armed conflict and displacement, providing them with catch up classes and supporting them to eventually enroll in formal schools (CODESOCIAL, 2009). In many cases, communities have devised alternative spaces and programmes to deliver learning safely for children. In 2006, when entire communities in conflict-affected areas in northern Central African Republic fled to avoid fighting and attacks targeting villages, communities established temporary “bush schools” (Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, 2020a). Parents, who were offered short teacher training courses, served as teachers and delivered lessons that attempted to parallel the national curriculum taught in government schools, teaching over 100,000 students under trees (Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, 2020b). Similarly, in northern Syria, temporary schools staffed by volunteer teachers were set up in more secure villages when parents in some areas had been afraid to send their children to their regular local schools (Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, 2020a).