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COVID-19: childcare for children of people working in crucial sectors

Publication | 15-12-2020

Remote education only is currently provided for primary and secondary school pupils. The same applies to students in secondary vocational education, higher professional education and at university. Primary schools and childcare centres do, however, remain open for the children of key workers. If only one of the parents in a two-parent family is a key worker, the family is requested to arrange childcare themselves wherever possible. If this is not an option, these parents can make use of the emergency care provided by primary schools and childcare centres.

Crucial sectors in connection with COVID-19


The following sectors and processes have been classified as crucial:

  • Staff working in critical processes.
  • Healthcare and care, including the production and transportation of medicines and medical devices.
  • Education: teachers and support staff who are needed to provide distance learning, childcare at schools and exam supervision.
  • Public transport.
  • Food supply. This should be understood in the broadest sense and includes supermarkets, deliveries to supermarkets, the food processing industry and related transport, the collection of products from farms, deliveries of animal feed and other products to farms and access for harvest workers.
  • Transportation of fuel, including coal, oil, petrol and diesel.
  • Refuse and waste collection.
  • Childcare.
  • Media and communication, in so far as this work relates to providing society with necessary information about the current situation.
  • Emergency services (the police service and Defence organisation have already been classified as critical):
    • control room processes
    • fire services
    • ambulance services
    • Regional Emergency Medical Services (GHOR)
    • safety regions’ crisis management
  • Essential government processes (central, provincial and municipal government), such as payment of benefits and allowances, population affairs, consulates, embassies, custodial institutions and forensic clinics
  • Essential support or facilities services (for example, cleaning, building security, supervisory authorities, IT) for one of the crucial sectors or processes listed above.