Educate everyone in the school about COVID-19 prevention - This includes the importance of appropriate and frequent hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene, use of mask and face-screen protection, non-contact greetings and social distancing, including tips for students on safe commuting to and from school for those using public transport. Also, students must be informed about the symptoms of COVID-19 and what the school does if a school child feels sick. Create awareness to ensure that students do not gather and socialize when leaving the school or in their free time.

Create a checklist for parents, students and staff to decide whether students and staff can go to school, giving due consideration to the local epidemiology of COVID-19. The checklist could include underlying medical conditions and vulnerabilities, so as to protect students and staff; recent illness or symptoms suggestive of COVID-19, to prevent its spread to others; special circumstances in the home environment, to tailor support as needed; and special considerations regarding school transport, as required.

Put in place respiratory and hand hygiene, and cleaning of the school environment - Develop a school policy on wearing a mask and a face-screen covering and provide sufficient medical masks for those who cannot afford to buy them. Schedule for frequent hand hygiene and provide sufficient alcohol-based rub or soap and clean water at school entrances and throughout the school. Clean and disinfect the whole school building, in particular school toilets and frequently touched surfaces such as door handles, desks, toys, supplies, light switches, doorframes, play equipment, teaching aids used by children and book covers. Increase the frequency of cleaning in gym and sports facilities and changing rooms, provide hand-hygiene stations at entrances and exits, establish one-way circulation of athletes through the facilities, and limit the number of persons allowed in the locker room at one time. WHO recommends 70% ethyl alcohol to disinfect small surface areas and equipment, or sodium hypochlorite 0.1% for surface disinfection.

Limit the risk of exposure - Physical distancing is key to avoiding the spread of COVID-19. Prevent direct physical contact among school children, including in physical-education classes, sports or other physical activities, during play in playgrounds, and in wet areas and changing rooms. Maintain a distance of at least 2 meters between everyone present at school. Increase desk spacing and stagger recesses and breaks. This may require a reduction in the number of students per class. School children should have lunch at their desks. Limit the mixing of classes for school and after-school activities. For example, students could stay in one classroom throughout the day while teachers moved between classrooms, or classes could use different entrances, if available, or else enter or leave the building or classroom in a particular order. Expand the high-school timetable, with some students and teachers attending in the morning, others in the afternoon, others still in the evening. Consider increasing the number of teachers, if possible, to allow for fewer students per classroom if the space is available. Advise against crowding during school pick-up or day care, and if possible, avoid having grandparents or older family or community members doing the pick-up. Minimize shared break-times, for example by alternating when and where classes take lunch. Move lessons outdoors or ventilate rooms as much as possible. Discuss how to manage physical distance within the school community and use creativeness to apply the measures to the school’s physical environment.

Physical-distancing measures also apply to travel to and from school. On transportation like school buses, there should be only 1 child per seat and children should be spaced at least 2 meters apart. Bus windows should be kept open. These steps may require an increase in the number of buses per school.

Ensure that school-entry immunisation checks are in place - Check students’ vaccination status for outbreak-prone, vaccine-preventable diseases like measles, and remind parents of the importance of ensuring their children are up to date with all eligible inoculations. For school-based immunisation programmes, ensure there is a plan for catch-up vaccinations if needed.

Note: Boarding schools and other specialised institutions will need to extend the above considerations to residential facilities, lecture halls, laboratories and other learning facilities.

Enforce the policy of “staying at home if unwell’’ for all students, teachers and school staff who show symptoms. Schools should carry out daily screening for body temperature, and for history of fever or feeling feverish in the previous 24 hours, on entry into the building, This would apply to all staff, students and visitors in order to identify persons who are sick. Schools should ensure that students stay home for 14 days if they have been in contact with a COVID-19 case. School officials should notify public health authorities in the event of a positive COVID-19 case. The school must inform parents about the measures the school is putting in place and ask for cooperation in reporting any cases of COVID-19 that occur in the household. If a child or school staff member has a fever or any symptom of COVID-19, or if someone in their household is suspected of having COVID-19, she or he should not come to school. If possible, the school should provide home-care support and ensure good communication between home and school. Explain to the students the reason for school-related measures, including discussing the scientific considerations and highlighting the help, like psychosocial support, that they can get through schools. Waive the requirement for a doctor’s note to excuse students, teachers or school staff for absences.

Adapted from Annex to Considerations in adjusting public health and social measures in the context of COVID-19, WHO reference number: WHO/2019-nCoV/Adjusting_PH_measures/Schools/2020.1 - 10 May 2020