Adequate School / Learning Space Infrastructure

School or learning space infrastructure plays a significant role among the factors influencing child learning, physical and emotional well-being and safety. This indicator assesses the status of the educational infrastructure and physical learning environment in supported schools or learning spaces, including water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure.

Determine the indicator's value by using the following methodology:

1) Assess the total number of schools or learning spaces targeted by the action. This data can be gathered from project level documentation.

2) Develop Infrastructure Quality Standards criteria for schools or learning spaces which are relevant to the context of the intervention and reflect the physical, psychosocial, protection and other needs of children, teachers and communities. Criteria should use existing national or local standards if available.  Refer to Important Comments below for additional guidance about standards.

3) Create a monitoring checklist based on the criteria identified that covers all standards or use PIN’s School and Learning Space Observation Checklist. Decide whether the assessed schools or learning spaces need to meet all or only some of the standards (e.g. at least 80%) to be considered as "meeting Infrastructure Quality Standards".

4) Collect data about school or learning space facilities by either (1) conducting school or learning space field visits, ideally every 6 months, (2) collecting monitoring checklists filled out by school or learning space directors, or (3) using records of education authorities (if available). If using option 2 or 3, also consider conducting field visits on a quarterly basis to randomly selected schools or learning spaces to crosscheck reliability of data. Ideally, data should be collected for every school or learning space since a sample of schools or learning spaces will not reflect individual schools or learning spaces needs.

5) Calculate the number of schools or learning spaces with buildings or structures that meet the Infrastructure Quality Standards. To calculate the percentage, divide the total number of schools or learning spaces that meet education in emergencies (EiE) access, quality, and safety standards for infrastructure by the total number of targeted schools or learning spaces and multiply the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage.

Disaggregation of the data can be done by the type of school or learning space (formal versus non-formal) and education level (pre-primary, primary, lower secondary, upper secondary, vocational, higher/tertiary), as relevant.

1) This is INEE Indicator 2.6.

2) Government or national standards should be used where applicable. In emergency contexts, if these standards do not exist the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) Minimum Standards (contextualised where available), especially Access and Learning Environment Standard 10: Facilities and Services, and/or Education Cluster/Working Group standards, should be used and referred to. These standards are integrated into PIN’s School and Learning Space Observation Checklist.

3) Wherever possible, it is recommended to look at quality and safety through a climate change lens and assess the sustainability of educational facilities (the use of renewable sources, management of power consumption, water conservation and water harvesting/greywater reuse systems).

4) Related indicators:

     INEE

        - 2.5 % of children, teachers, and other staff who report feeling safe in school or learning space and on the way to/from school or learning space (see School / Learning Space Safety indicator)

        - 2.7 % of learning spaces with gender- and disability-sensitive WASH facilities

    ECHO

       - KRI: Number of learning spaces/schools set up or rehabilitated or restored to minimum standards for safe learning.

    Global Education Cluster

       - number and % of assessed formal and informal learning environments that are considered safe for boys and girls of different ages

       - % of schools/learning spaces structures that meet the minimum safe construction standards

       - % of schools/learning spaces accessible for children with physical and or learning disabilities

    Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

       - 4.a.1 Proportion of schools offering basic services, by type of service

    UNRWA

       - number of schools rehabilitated following conflict damage

    Child Protection Minimum Standards (CPMS)

       - 23.2.1 % of non-formal or formal learning centres surveyed in target location that meet 100% of agreed upon safety criteria and universal design standards

       - 23.2.4 Number and % of formal and non-formal learning centres that are accessible to children with disabilities

       - 23.2.8 % of formal and non-formal learning centres previously identified as unsafe according to safety criteria that are upgraded to meet safety requirements

    IndiKit

       - Environmental Mainstreaming Indicators