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School closures and continuity of learning measures
School closures were common throughout the region in 2020 and 2021, including during the pandemics, epidemics and natural disasters referenced in the questionnaire. School leaders were asked to indicate how long their school was closed due to, respectively, a pandemic, epidemic, natural disaster, or other reason in these years. Durations for school closures were collected separately for each of these categories.
School closures
In Solomon Islands, 31% of students attended schools that were closed for 3–4 weeks and 22% attended schools that were closed for 5–6 weeks due to a pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Moreover, 26% of students attended schools that were closed for 1–2 weeks and 8% attended schools that were closed for 3–4 weeks due to natural disasters.
Percentage of students attending schools that had measures to provide continuity of learning during school closure
- Standard errors appear in parentheses.
Continuity of learning measures
Along with the school closure information, school leaders were asked to indicate what measures were in place to provide continuity of learning during school closures. The measures that were asked about focused on the provision and availability of learning materials and communication with students and parents. Table SLT3.3 shows the percentage of students in Solomon Islands in PILNA 2021 who attended schools with specific continuity of learning measures being implemented, available but not implemented, and not available.
Table SLT3.3 shows that 17% of students attended schools where learning materials were made available for pick-up from schools, while 25% attended schools where this measure was in place but not implemented. Twelve per cent of students attended schools where learning materials were broadcast on the radio, while a further 15% attended schools where this measure was in place but not implemented. Ten per cent of students attended schools where learning materials were delivered to students’ homes, while a further 29% attended schools where this measure was in place but not implemented.
A notably small proportion of students attended schools where digital distribution of learning materials was available, either through email, websites, or portals.
What does this mean?
School closures affected large numbers of students across the region during 2020 and 2021. Pandemic-related school closures affected the greatest proportion of students, followed by natural disasters. Different countries experienced different levels of school closures for pandemics, epidemics, natural disasters, and other reasons.
To provide continuity of learning during these closures, measures were made available for students, although notably fewer students in Solomon Islands attended schools that implemented learning continuity measures compared with the regional average.
The majority of the measures involved physical learning materials or distribution of materials over radio. Only a small proportion of students attended schools where digital distribution of learning materials was available, either through email, websites, or portals.
These findings may suggest challenges with implementing learning continuity measures in Solomon Islands. They may also suggest that digital distribution of materials may be a challenge.
