Preparedness of Schools to Re-Open Post-COVID-19 Induced School Closures in Ghana

The ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic on society affected several facets including formal education. Significantly, the indefinite closure of schools was introduced to control the spread and related fatality of the pandemic making the decision to reopen schools for all learners in January 2021 after several months of closure a preparedness concern. Using a national school-based survey informed by Event Systems and Chaos theories, the paper explores the preparedness of schools to re-open post-COVID-19 school closure. From the findings, it became evident that schools in Ghana were generally prepared to re-open per schedule. However, there existed unique disparities in some school system sub-levels informed by the location of the school. Consequently, we recommend: (1) the need to take advantage of the confidence the school system had regarding reopening for undertaking build-back efforts in future pandemics, and (2) policy and research response, especially for the vulnerable in resilience building post-emergency recovery in schools.