The term school desert (Swedish: skolöken) is used in the Swedish school debate to describe municipalities with very few or no compulsory schools. It is not an official definition but a concept that highlights the lack of real school choice in practice.
Skolkoll's definition
Skolkoll defines school deserts as municipalities with at most 2 active compulsory schools. These municipalities are marked with a red border on the school desert map. The definition does not mean that children in these municipalities lack a school place — they can commute to schools in neighbouring municipalities — but freedom of choice is virtually non-existent in practice.
Why do school deserts exist?
School deserts arise in rural municipalities with declining population bases. As the number of children decreases, schools are closed, until only one or two units remain. This creates a vicious cycle: families with children move to municipalities with more options, which further reduces the population base.
Consequences
In a school desert, students and parents effectively have no school choice — they attend the school that exists. If the school has problems with teaching quality or safety, there is no alternative without changing municipality. The municipality, on the other hand, has high costs per student since fixed costs are spread over few students.
Skolkoll updates the school desert map continuously based on Skolverket's register of active school units.