In many schools, the number of students and teachers dropped dramatically when the corona virus broke out in Sweden. But after Easter, and sharper signals from the National Agency for Education and the Government that the compulsory schooling applies, many schools are back at more common levels. 

To get a picture of the situation in compulsory school, SVT Nyheter has spoken with the management of schools in the largest municipalities in the three hardest hit counties Stockholm, Östergötland and Sörmland. We have also talked to school principals or the equivalent in the county's largest municipalities as well as the school management in Malmö and Gothenburg.

In Stockholm City, on average, four pupils and teachers were absent when it was worst. Today, the absence rate is on average 14-15 percent, twice as much as normal. Socioeconomically vulnerable areas have had higher absences, and it is harder to get students to come back.

Several reasons behind the absence

Mikael Östling Hutha, headmaster of the English school in the hard-hit area of ​​Kista in Stockholm, says that the crisis has had a profound effect on the business and that several students have been personally affected within their families.

- There has been around 40 per cent absence in the past. What we have done is very much about individual communication, we call parents and get a picture of what it looks like in their family and reminds us that the school is open.

In Eskilstuna municipality, the absence was sometimes so high - 30 per cent among pupils and about 24 per cent among teachers - that teaching was not possible. In some schools, students had to work from home or short days because there was no staff.

Major challenges with dual education

For teachers, it has meant a lot of double work when teaching and planning is to be planned and implemented for students on site as well as at home.

- I still think it's been pretty good. We have not directly changed the teaching itself, however, you may have tried to adapt the task so that it will work for those who are at home, ”says Agnetha Methander, who teaches SO and Swedish at Årbyskolan in Eskilstuna.