Households’ attitudes towards schools reopening during COVID-19 in Ethiopia

Policy brief 13 Apr 2021 COVID-19

Authors

This policy brief reports on the findings from a phone survey focusing on educational outcomes and plans in Ethiopia and how they were affected by COVID-19.
The survey was conducted with households living in Addis Ababa and neighbouring areas of Oromia in the fall of 2020. It documents how parents and children responded to the reopening of schools.
Prior to schools reopening in the country, there was some anxiety regarding parents’ and/or children’s willingness to go back, given the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
Our survey indicates that these fears were unfounded, at least for our study population: most parents did send back their children to school as soon as it became possible. Any lack of attendance that we still observe at the end of the survey is due primarily to some local schools not having reopened yet.