INTRODUCTION: On March 2020, the World Health Organization announced that COVID-19 could already be characterized as a pandemic. The declaration became a call for the international community to take appropriate actions to mitigate the spread of the virus in their territories. Faced with the threat of an infectious disease without a vaccine still available to combat it, countries must resort to non-pharmacological interventions to reduce the impact of epidemics such as social distancing, closing schools and businesses well as quarantines and isolations.

OBJECTIVES: To identify the international experiences regarding the closure of academic activities in situations of previous epidemics before the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS: We performed a systematic search on PubMed, EMBASE, CENTRAL, and LILACS. No restrictions were applied regarding the year of publication, language, or sample size. The initial selection of relevant articles based on title and abstract was made separately by two reviewers with expertise on the field, to obtain publications that were not found in the mentioned electronic databases, the reference lists of all eligible studies and related systematic reviews were also evaluated.

RESULTS: To minimize the impact of face-to-face educational interruption, most of the studied countries have presented distance education solutions. The inequality between socioeconomic groups creates barriers for the successful implementation of medium emergency programs. The school closure measure supposes an additional challenge in countries where there is no universal access to the internet or information and communication technologies, affecting other daily life aspects such as nutrition, care, and incomes.

CONCLUSIONS: School closure policies can be very effective in mitigating the spread of pathogens in our communities; the strategies of gradual closure of the school can lead to a reduction in the attack rate of up to 20-25%, but social and economic implications that this strategy brings to children, their families, and communities cannot be neglected.