about of staff of primary and secondary rural schools agreed in a recent survey that the transition for students is very challenging unicef this suggests that while small schools might have been an effective way to ensure access to primary education they might also be an obstacle in the transition to secondary school the necessary expansion of preschool and secondary education services in rural areas calls for a joint review of the school network to foster better quality and equity with most school buildings in need of an upgrade and demographic trends making rural schools even smaller it will also be increasingly hard to justify investments in these schools when alternative approaches could deliver better quality to students while also supporting the expansion of educational opportunities at other levels