Survey on School Conditions During the COVID-19 Crisis

The COVID-19 crisis has affected the education sector hard. The closing of schools has interrupted the normal function of the system, reducing student learning, and restricting the amount of administrative data available to education authorities, parents, and decision makers. However, as the crisis wane, many important decisions need to be made now to anticipate the reopening of schools and the restoration of normality in the education system and in the life of students and their families.

The medium and long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are still uncertain, but the need to continue educating children and the need to restore the learning losses brought in by the crisis, require short-term actions by the Ministry of Education and other Government authorities. To that end, there is an urgent need for essential information at the school level that can be used to guide decisions on policies, financial support, the assignment of personnel, and the implementation of educational platforms for delivering education in person and remotely.

This survey aims to help the Ministry of Education to get a clearer picture of the response to the crisis and of situation on the ground with focus in primary and secondary education. The purpose of the survey is to generate information that can be used to define courses of action, define the path to the normalization of classes, and help regain the losses in student learning. The survey findings will also help teachers and parents review their own situation, compare it with the situation of others, and help them decide on their participation in school-level solutions.

The survey should be administered by central national education authorities, e.g. the Ministry of Education, with an official cover letter addressed to school's director (head teachers, principal, or academic leader) indicating that their response is very important. The cover letter should have a deadline by which the filled questionnaire should be returned, thereby highlighting the urgency in responding quickly. It is recommended to have a deadline set for 2 weeks after the survey is sent to schools, with reminders close to the deadline.

To the extent possible, the survey should be conducted electronically.

The survey can be sent to:

  • a sample of schools, designed to be representative at the subnational level (state or province) and selected using an cluster sampling to ensure representativity of the main sub-groups in the population. It is suggested to consult the national statistical office for assistance, if needed. This approach will likely result in having information more quickly than if all schools are included in the sample.
  • all schools, for a complete representativity. If this option is chosen in parallel to first send the survey to a selected sample of schools, a different deadline should be specified to allow for more time to submit the filled questionnaire.

The survey can be administered in two ways:

  1. As a stand alone survey, for a rapid assessment of the situation (sample survey)
  2. As part of the national annual school census, by including relevant questions to the school census
  • Education levels offered by school
  • Remote Learning and Student Connectivity
  • Enrolment, attendance, and teachers
  • School Management and Parent Participation
  • School Infrastructure
  • School Assessment

Please take a few minutes to respond to this survey (forthcoming)

Consult the PDF survey form.