Child development post-COVID-19 school closures in Ghana: The roles of remote learning experiences

In 2020–2021, the COVID-19 pandemic led to school closures worldwide and created significant learning losses for children around the world, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, a region with pre-existing wide learning gaps. Little is known about how remote learning experiences during school closures predict academic performance after school reopenings, or how these relations vary by children’s demographic characteristics and pre-pandemic achievement levels. Using longitudinal data from the Greater Accra region of Ghana ( N = 1604) and controlling for pre-pandemic (2018) outcomes, this study examined the associations between children’s remote learning experiences during school closures in 2020 and subsequent academic achievement one, two, and four years after such closures (2021, 2022, and 2024). Moderation by child, household, and school characteristics was also examined. Results showed that remote learning experiences during school closures - especially engagement in and resources for remote learning - were positively associated with children’s academic outcomes in 2021 and 2022, but not in 2024. Subgroup analyses revealed that children with average or above-average pre-pandemic math scores benefited from remote learning during school closures at the trend-level, but not students with below-average scores. Household socioeconomic status, economic shocks, and school type did not significantly moderate the relation between remote learning experiences and post-pandemic learning outcomes.