The COVID-19 pandemic has seen an unprecedented shutdown of society. Among the various safety measures taken, much attention has been given to school closure as a non-pharmaceutical mitigation tool to curb the spread of the disease through ensuring “social” (physical) distancing. Nearly 1.725 billion children in over 95% of countries worldwide have been affected by school closures implemented in April 2020 as the virus continued to spread. In the field of education, policymakers’ attention has been directed at keeping students on board through remote learning and addressing the immediate needs of schools upon reopening. The study presented in this article focuses on who remains absent after schools resume. Using publicly available survey data from the USAID Demographic Health Surveys Program and the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey from before and after the 2013–2016 Ebola pandemic in Guinea and Sierra Leone in West Africa, the author examined changes in school enrolment and dropout patterns, with targeted consideration given to traditionally marginalised groups. At the time, schools closed for between seven to nine months in the two countries; this length and intensity makes this Ebola pandemic the only health crisis in the recent past to come close to the pandemic-related school closures experienced in 2020. The author’s findings suggest that post-Ebola, youth in the poorest households saw the largest increase in school dropout. Exceeding expected pre-Ebola dropout rates, an additional 17,400 of the poorest secondary-age youth were out of school. This evidence is important for minimising the likely post-COVID-19 expansion in inequality. The author’s findings point to the need for sustainable planning that looks beyond the reopening of educational institutions to include comprehensive financial support packages for groups most likely to be affected.

COVID-19 大流行见证了前所未有的社会停摆。在采取的各种安全措施中，学校关闭作为一种非药物缓解工具，通过确保“社会”（物理）距离来遏制疾病的传播，受到了极大的关注。随着病毒继续传播，2020 年 4 月实施的学校停课影响了全球 95% 以上国家的近 17.25 亿儿童。在教育领域，政策制定者的注意力集中在通过远程学习让学生参与进来，并在重新开学后解决学校的紧迫需求。本文介绍的研究重点关注学校恢复后仍然缺席的人。作者利用美国国际开发署人口健康调查计划和联合国儿童基金会多指标类集调查在 2013-2016 年西非几内亚和塞拉利昂埃博拉大流行前后的公开调查数据，研究了入学率和辍学模式的变化，其中对传统上被边缘化的群体给予有针对性的考虑。当时，两国的学校停课七到九个月；这种持续时间和强度使得这次埃博拉大流行成为近期唯一一次接近于 2020 年与大流行相关的学校停课的健康危机。作者的研究结果表明，在埃博拉之后，最贫困家庭的青年在学校的增长幅度最大退出。超过预期的埃博拉前辍学率，另外 17, 400 名最贫困的中年青年失学。这一证据对于最大限度地减少可能在 COVID-19 之后的不平等扩大非常重要。作者的研究结果表明，除了重新开放教育机构之外，还需要为最有可能受到影响的群体提供全面的财政支持，以制定可持续的规划。