Schools as Safety Nets

Abstract

Schools are a key channel for formally reporting violence against children, but this channel broke down with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We study how widespread such reporting declines were and to what extent they were recovered once schools reopened. Examining the universe of all criminal reports of violence against children in Chile, we observe sharp declines in reports of all types of violence (psychological, physical, and sexual), and find that full recovery in reporting had not occurred even nearly 2 years following initial school closures. Extending beyond the unexpected and long school closures during the pandemic, we find evidence of clear declines in violence reporting during regular school vacations and in a period of student strikes at the secondary level, suggesting a broader relevance of these results.