Effective prevention of communicable diseases in schools/centres not only safeguard the health of children and staff by minimising the harm caused by the diseases, but also ensure a delightful learning environment to support the healthy development of children.

Recommendations for the education sector, governments and the international community to get children back into school and learning.

These guidelines were designed to assist schools to prevent or minimise the spread of infection, illness and disease to staff, pupils and others (such as student teachers and volunteers). They were primarily developed for use by teachers in primary and secondary schools.

Experience with pandemic (H1N1) 2009 in many countries has demonstrated the importance in some communities of schools in amplifying transmission of the pandemic virus – both within schools and the wider community.

As people around the world are taking precautions to protect themselves, their families and their communities from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) it’s also important that children can continue to learn, and that they can do so in an environment that is welcoming, respectful, inclusive, and suppor