Safe Back to School: A Practitioner's Guide

"The school reopening process offers a unique multi-sectoral opportunity for governments and school communities to build back better, address gender inequalities and strengthen the resilience of the education system. An inclusive, participatory process can help bring all children and young people into school and leave no one behind."

Offered in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this set of documents aims to provide guidance to programme teams on how to plan an integrated, participatory process for safe school reopening applicable across the humanitarian-development nexus. The tools, designed to be user friendly and practitioner focused, outline the key steps for a coordinated, inclusive, all-hazards approach to school reopening, with links to further guidance where appropriate. Consisting of the practitioner's guide summarised here, as well as related kits and documents, the resources were developed by Save the Children, together with other agencies of the Global Education Cluster Strategic Advisory Group.

Creators of the resources point out that the global COVID-19 pandemic has led to disruptions to education that have impacted over 90% of the world's student population: 1.54 billion children, including 743 million girls. School closures and the wider socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 on communities and society also disrupt children's and young people's normal support systems, leaving them more vulnerable to illnesses and child protection risks. Girls and other marginalised groups, particularly those in displaced settings, are particularly affected.

The guide builds on the United Nations (UN) Framework for Reopening Schools and was developed with reference to the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) Minimum Standards, the Child Protection Minimum Standards, the Sphere Handbook, and the Guidance for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 in schools (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and World Health Organization - WHO). The implementation of the activities is designed to contribute to achievement of key outputs and outcomes in the Global Education Cluster's COVID-19 Response & Recovery Framework. Creators of the guide stress that not all actions will be appropriate in all contexts and, thus, need to be contextualised based on local practices and aligned with government standards.

Divided into 2 sections, the guide includes 2 back-to-school checklists presenting key actions to ensure sectoral integration throughout the school reopening process and actions for head teachers, school management committee, or other school structures to follow. For example, before schools reopen, it is recommended that the whole school community, including children and young people, be engaged in back-to-school planning and campaigns using participatory methods. Another pre-opening step in the checklist: Prepare age-appropriate, inclusive, accessible risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) messages, and ensure the materials address rumours/fears or stigmatisation that could adversely affect specific groups of children.

The 7 annexes in the guide's second section provide detailed technical guidance and resources for specific activities mentioned in the checklists. For example, Annex 1 provides guidance for participatory, inclusive back-to-school campaigns; Annex 5 focuses on participatory education and protection continuity planning; and Annex 7 offers advocacy messages.

Connected to the guide are a variety of resources in assorted languages and formats (e.g., PDF and Word documents) addressing related needs associated with safe schools and school reopening, such as teacher development, hygiene COVID-19 guidance, key messages for parenting without violence, and 9 basic requirements for meaningful and ethical child participation during COVID-19: transparent and informative; voluntary; respectful; relevant; child friendly; inclusive; supported by training; safe and sensitive to risk; and accountable.