[News] The Insight for Education study: It is assumed that opening schools will increase cases of Corona infection and closing them will reduce infection, and the reality is more complicated than that

[HiTLeR]

A study conducted in 191 countries concluded that reopening schools after general isolation and holidays are not generally linked to high rates of COVID-19 infection, but general isolation measures to combat the disease will make 2020 a year of “education debts due to the pandemic” of 300 billion lost school days.

The analysis was conducted by the Zurich-based independent educational institution Insight for Education. The study indicated that 84% of those lost school days are shared by children in the poorest countries, warning that 711 million students are still out of school.

"It has been assumed that opening schools will increase cases, and closing them will reduce infection, but the reality is more complicated than that," said Randa Group-Zachary, founder and CEO of Insight for Education.

Schools reopening
The vast majority, about 92 percent, of the countries that went through the first wave of the Covid-19 outbreak began to return to the resumption of the educational process in schools, although some countries are currently experiencing a second wave of outbreaks.

The study concluded that 52 countries that brought students back to school in August and September, including France and Spain, witnessed an increase in infection rates during the holiday compared to the time of closure.

But in Britain and Hungary, infection levels decreased after schools were initially closed, remained low during holidays, and began to increase after schools reopened.

No confirmed relationship
However, a complete analysis conducted by the study of the situation in the fifty-two countries did not find a confirmed relationship between the status of schools and infection rates, indicating the need to search for other influencing factors.

The report said that 44 countries have kept schools closed.

“This first real global test sheds light on what school life looks like in the world of Covid ... Understanding how countries undergoing a second, large-scale wave deal with this new reality in classrooms is essential to obtain guidance on future decisions to reopen schools and help keep schools open,” said Group-Zachary. “.