The aim of this paper is to clarify how learning opportunities and the ensuring of the safe lives of the country’s citizenry during the COVID-19 pandemic are being sustained by Swedish popular education （folkbildning） organizations. In this study, 10 study associations （statsbidragsberättigade studieförbund） that organize study circles in Sweden were examined to see how the role of popular education has developed and has been maintained. These study associations are a type of “association （förening）;” förening is sometimes expressed as being a “school of democracy” that supports various citizens’ activities in local communities. This paper describes how Swedish democracy is being supported by these study associations amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Information relating to COVID-19 was accessed from the websites of these associations and analyzed in order to review their activities and the new challenges they have faced. Three main categories of activities that these associations have either initiated or created themselves to enable the citizens they serve to avoid the isolation brought on by the pandemic were identified. These include online activities, various ways to share information, and outreach. For example, the functions of IBASHO and information sharing are provided through online activities or sometimes through phone contact, whereas lifestyle support functions such as activities for health promotion have been continued out of doors. In the end, it could be said that keeping the “functions” of these facilities going is more important than considering how to reopen them.