Covid-19 pandemic, school closures and perception of the importance of education in the country

The objective of this paper is to analyze the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the consideration of the importance of education in the society. Using a difference-in-differences strategy and representative survey data from 28 European countries: the Eurobarometers 91.5 (June-July 2019) and 93.1 (July-August 2020), we estimate the impact of the pandemic (approximated by regional mortality) over perception of education, as well as the effect of schools/universities closure, both from a personal and country-wide perspective. The results show that the pandemic has generated a deep rift in society. On the one hand, unemployed, immigrants and those who consider themselves as working class are more prone to think that education is no longer one of their fundamental concerns. On the other hand, among those who are more educated or consider themselves as "higher class", there is a substantial increase in concern for education at both the personal and societal levels.