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World

Coronavirus brings back-to-school challenges

As school holidays wind down around the world, COVID-19 infections are once again on the rise in many countries. In an effort to avoid further shutdowns, schools have adapted their approach to in-class learning.

  • Thai students wear face masks and sit at desks with plastic screens (Getty Images/L. DeCicca)

    Thailand: Class in a box

    The roughly 250 students who attend Wat Khlong Toey School in Bangkok now sit in plastic cubicles during class, and must keep their face masks all day. Sinks and soap dispensers are positioned outside each classroom, and temperatures are taken as students arrive to school in the morning. The strict measures seem to be working: the school has reported no new infections since July.

  • High school students wearing face masks pose (Getty Images/H. Hopkins)

    New Zealand: School for some

    These students in the capital, Wellington, are happy they can still go to school. Those in Auckland aren't so lucky. After the country went virus-free for three months, four new cases were reported in the country's largest city on August 11. Health authorities ordered the closure of schools and non-essential businesses in the city, and told citizens to stay home.

  • Students run celebrating their high school graduation at Nacka Gymnasium in Stockholm (picture-alliance/AP Photo/TT/J. Gow)

    Sweden: No special measures

    Students in Sweden are still enjoying their summer holidays, but this picture of graduates taken before the break continues to symbolize the country's special approach to dealing with COVID-19. Unlike almost everywhere else in the world, the Scandinavian country has never required citizens to wear masks. Businesses, bars, restaurants and schools have all remained open.

  • Students with face masks go upstairs to their classrooms at the Petri primary school in Dortmund (Getty Images/AFP/I. Fassbender)

    Germany: Single file, at a distance

    These students at Petri Primary School in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, are exhibiting exemplary behavior. Like all schools in Germany's most populous state, theirs requires face masks. Yet unlike students in Germany's other 15 states, they must also wear them in the classroom. It's too early to tell if the measures are working, however — the school year only kicked off on August 12.

  • A Palestinian teacher addresses high school students in a mask (Getty Images/AFP/H. Bader)

    West Bank: Back to school after 5 months

    School has also resumed in Hebron, some 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Jerusalem. Students in the region are required to wear face masks, with some schools even calling for gloves. Yet despite her mask, this teacher's enthusiasm is evident. Schools in the Palestinian territories have been closed since March, with Hebron being an epicenter of infections.

  • Tunisian high school students wearing face masks listen to their teacher at a classroom in a school in Tunisia's capital Tunis (Getty Images/AFP/F. Belaid)

    Tunisia: Masked since May

    This class of high school students in Tunis began wearing masks in May. As schools across the North African country resume in the coming weeks, all students will be required to wear them. When Tunisia's schools were closed for several weeks in March, parents had to school their children at home, helping them with TV and internet-based learning programs until classes could resume in early summer.

  • Children, who have missed their online classes due to a lack of internet facilities, maintain a safe distance as they listen to prerecorded lessons (Reuters/P. Waydande )

    India: Teaching by loudspeaker

    This school in Dandwal, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, has a special setup for students who have no access to the internet. Here they can attend a type of tutoring session to catch up on missed assignments, listening to prerecorded classes over a loudspeaker. Maharashtra was particularly hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

  • A pupil gets his temperature measured before entering the Reverend Kim School (Getty Images/AFP/A. Mpiana)

    Congo: No class without temperature check

    Authorities in Lingwala, a well-heeled suburb in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, are taking the threat of coronavirus infections among students extremely seriously. Every student attending the suburb's Reverend Kim School is required to have his or her temperature taken before being allowed to enter the building. Face masks are also mandatory.

  • A young boy in a mask has his temperature checked at school (picture-alliance/Newscom/P. C. James)

    United States: Lessons in the world's hot spot

    Schools in the US are also doing daily temperature checks to detect potential COVID-19 cases. Such measures are urgently needed in the country, which continues to see some of the world's highest infection rates. On August 13, Johns Hopkins University reported that more people had died within the past 24 hours than at any point since late May.

  • Teacher Maura Silva helps her student Yuri Araujo Silva put on gloves (Reuters/P. Olivares)

    Brazil: Gloves and a hug

    Maura Silva (left) is a teacher at a public school in western Rio de Janeiro, near one of the city's largest slums. She makes an effort to visit her students at home, and brings along her "hug kit." Before taking them in her arms, Silva and her students put on masks and she helps them to put on plastic gloves.


  • Thai students wear face masks and sit at desks with plastic screens (Getty Images/L. DeCicca)

    Thailand: Class in a box

    The roughly 250 students who attend Wat Khlong Toey School in Bangkok now sit in plastic cubicles during class, and must keep their face masks all day. Sinks and soap dispensers are positioned outside each classroom, and temperatures are taken as students arrive to school in the morning. The strict measures seem to be working: the school has reported no new infections since July.

  • High school students wearing face masks pose (Getty Images/H. Hopkins)

    New Zealand: School for some

    These students in the capital, Wellington, are happy they can still go to school. Those in Auckland aren't so lucky. After the country went virus-free for three months, four new cases were reported in the country's largest city on August 11. Health authorities ordered the closure of schools and non-essential businesses in the city, and told citizens to stay home.

  • Students run celebrating their high school graduation at Nacka Gymnasium in Stockholm (picture-alliance/AP Photo/TT/J. Gow)

    Sweden: No special measures

    Students in Sweden are still enjoying their summer holidays, but this picture of graduates taken before the break continues to symbolize the country's special approach to dealing with COVID-19. Unlike almost everywhere else in the world, the Scandinavian country has never required citizens to wear masks. Businesses, bars, restaurants and schools have all remained open.

  • Students with face masks go upstairs to their classrooms at the Petri primary school in Dortmund (Getty Images/AFP/I. Fassbender)

    Germany: Single file, at a distance

    These students at Petri Primary School in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, are exhibiting exemplary behavior. Like all schools in Germany's most populous state, theirs requires face masks. Yet unlike students in Germany's other 15 states, they must also wear them in the classroom. It's too early to tell if the measures are working, however — the school year only kicked off on August 12.

  • A Palestinian teacher addresses high school students in a mask (Getty Images/AFP/H. Bader)

    West Bank: Back to school after 5 months

    School has also resumed in Hebron, some 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Jerusalem. Students in the region are required to wear face masks, with some schools even calling for gloves. Yet despite her mask, this teacher's enthusiasm is evident. Schools in the Palestinian territories have been closed since March, with Hebron being an epicenter of infections.

  • Tunisian high school students wearing face masks listen to their teacher at a classroom in a school in Tunisia's capital Tunis (Getty Images/AFP/F. Belaid)

    Tunisia: Masked since May

    This class of high school students in Tunis began wearing masks in May. As schools across the North African country resume in the coming weeks, all students will be required to wear them. When Tunisia's schools were closed for several weeks in March, parents had to school their children at home, helping them with TV and internet-based learning programs until classes could resume in early summer.

  • Children, who have missed their online classes due to a lack of internet facilities, maintain a safe distance as they listen to prerecorded lessons (Reuters/P. Waydande )

    India: Teaching by loudspeaker

    This school in Dandwal, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, has a special setup for students who have no access to the internet. Here they can attend a type of tutoring session to catch up on missed assignments, listening to prerecorded classes over a loudspeaker. Maharashtra was particularly hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

  • A pupil gets his temperature measured before entering the Reverend Kim School (Getty Images/AFP/A. Mpiana)

    Congo: No class without temperature check

    Authorities in Lingwala, a well-heeled suburb in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, are taking the threat of coronavirus infections among students extremely seriously. Every student attending the suburb's Reverend Kim School is required to have his or her temperature taken before being allowed to enter the building. Face masks are also mandatory.

  • A young boy in a mask has his temperature checked at school (picture-alliance/Newscom/P. C. James)

    United States: Lessons in the world's hot spot

    Schools in the US are also doing daily temperature checks to detect potential COVID-19 cases. Such measures are urgently needed in the country, which continues to see some of the world's highest infection rates. On August 13, Johns Hopkins University reported that more people had died within the past 24 hours than at any point since late May.

  • Teacher Maura Silva helps her student Yuri Araujo Silva put on gloves (Reuters/P. Olivares)

    Brazil: Gloves and a hug

    Maura Silva (left) is a teacher at a public school in western Rio de Janeiro, near one of the city's largest slums. She makes an effort to visit her students at home, and brings along her "hug kit." Before taking them in her arms, Silva and her students put on masks and she helps them to put on plastic gloves.


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