When the schools shut down : COVID-19 pandemic and inequality of opportunity among school-leavers

Abstract

It could be reasonably argued by now (as of June 2021) that the global COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected almost every aspect of everyday life: from cancelled events and changes in working habits to social distancing and closed borders not only between, but sometimes also within the countries. Among others, educational systems around the world have also been exposed to significant challenges during the pandemic with the closure of educational institutions unprecedentedly disrupting the learning process of almost 1.6 billion students around the world and hitting the vulnerable the hardest. This paper focuses on the challenges that the educational sector has been exposed to during the COVID-19 pandemic and presents a case study of the city of Siauliai, the fourth largest city in Lithuania. The research places a specific emphasis on the last year upper secondary education students by analysing the conditions under which they have been preparing for the state-level leaving examinations during the pandemic, and the forms of inequality that have emerged due to the closure of schools and transition to remote learning.