In response to the unprecedented crisis caused by COVID-19, this paper is an attempt to synthesize and present information on the status of school closures and reopening globally, in an effort to inform decision-makers and support education planning efforts for school reopening. Leveraging lessons from past and current crises, it also presents concrete country examples and experience in handling similar situations and health crises. The paper analyzes available information and concludes with a set of policy directions. This paper acknowledges certain limitations, mainly resulting from the unprecedented nature and the globally shared uncertainty of the situation, as well as the short time available for collecting, processing and publishing information. Data and evidence were rapidly collected, primarily based on information retrieved online, which may exclude other resources and data that are not available online. Language was another barrier as a lot of information and evidence exists in local languages, not always accessible to UNESCO. A small time-lag may be observed between the time the data is issued and published and the necessary time to develop the current document, during which an evolution of the country decision or status with relation to school reopening might have occurred.