Rebuilding Human Capital Amidst the Pandemic: The Impacts of COVID-19 on School-Aged Children and Youth in Ghana

Rome (Italy): World Food Programme (WFP), 2022.

English

32 p.

ELR3073

In Ghana, 1,354 youth aged 15–24 years and 610 parents of schoolchildren years were randomly surveyed online between May and July 2021. Parents reported on behalf of 843 young boys and girls aged 6–14 years. This study found that COVID-19 had negatively impacted access to education and quality of learning for children in Ghana. While the COVID-19 pandemic affected school enrolment in youth somewhat less severely than for schoolchildren, it provided additional challenges to accessing education. Many youth reported they could not pay school costs. Both parents and working youth reported having their income decreased either through job losses or a reduction of working hours. Unemployment and income instability appears to have strongly affected the food security of Ghanaian households with children. When asked about access to medical services for their children, almost half of parents surveyed reported experiencing challenges, most commonly lack of money, which coincides with the income losses encountered by households due to COVID-19. The main challenge identified by parents of schoolchildren and youth in the younger age group (14–19 years) was access to education, while the 20–24 year-olds reported lack of working opportunities.

Electronic ed.

Public

ELR 3073

English