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The spread of the virus divided the education sector on how to save the academic year during a pandemic.
FILE: Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga monitoring the start of Matriculation Exams at Sekano-Ntoane High School in Soweto on the morning of November 5, 2020. Image: Twitter / @ DBE_SA
JOHANNESBURG – The year 2020 will be remembered as the year when schools had to face the harsh reality of possibly losing the entire academic year.
The government was forced to close schools in an attempt to contain the rise in COVID-19 infections.
The spread of the virus divided the education sector on how to save the academic year during a pandemic.
In declaring the COVID-19 outbreak a national state of disaster, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in March that all schools would be closed as the number of positive cases increased rapidly.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced that schools would resume on April 14 so as not to lose too much time teaching and learning.
Sadtu’s Nomusa Cembi expressed concern about water and sanitation problems in many of the country’s schools, saying it could put thousands of students and teachers at risk of contracting the virus.
While Basil Manuel, from Naptosa, made it clear that the union would not allow education to resume without the proper systems.
Following public uproar and calls by unions for the education department to postpone resuming schooling, the government announced that schools would reopen on June 1 in phases after an updated calendar for the academic year was released.
But at the eleventh hour, Motshekga turned upside down, postponing the return of the seventh grades and matrices for another week.
The department’s confusion left many parents furious because some had already left their children in boarding houses.
The minister apologized, citing a delay in the delivery of personal protective equipment in most provinces.
There was another setback after an expected spike in COVID-19 infections in the country in July, with the president closing schools again for a month, with the exception of matriculations, which were expected to return to their classrooms a week later.
Some unions proposed that schooling be postponed until at least the end of August, and Mmusi Maimane’s One South Africa movement even took the department to court, but lost.
It remains to be seen how the Matrix Class of 2020 will fare in its finals following the COVID-19 outbreak and test paper leaks.
THE SCHOOL GOES ONLINE
The pandemic also forced the education sector to review its plans to invest in digital and online teaching and learning going forward.
To save the 2020 academic calendar, both departments of education implemented measures to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus.
Both schools and universities made use of online learning to manage classes and catch up on lost time.
Following the closure of all schools, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande announced that face-to-face classes would be moved online.
Nzimande said that all public universities had developed detailed strategies for multiple distance teaching and learning and that his department would provide laptops to poor students.
However, his department was unable to deliver on its promise due to acquisition issues, leaving behind many students who relied on online classes.
These NSFAS students will now only receive their laptops in March, when the 2021 academic year begins.
However, Nzimande applauded the online and digital platforms used during the pandemic and said that several South African universities reported better student performance compared to previous years.
Since then, Nzimande has announced a ministerial task force to help the sector develop strategies to make e-learning a reality, to be established this year.
Meanwhile, the basic education sector developed support materials in the form of online and broadcast classes to help students learn at home.
Classes were held on television channels and the radio station of the public broadcaster to help the students while they were at home.
Some teachers got creative and created WhatsApp groups where the learning material would be posted and discussed.
Motshekga recognized that, unlike in the higher education sector, e-learning can never bridge the gap of face-to-face learning in schools.
However, he said it is now vital for the industry to re-consider alternative learning methods so schools can be less affected by future closures.
With the pandemic that seems to be with us for some time, South Africa still faces problems such as high data costs and poor internet services in rural areas, which could hamper the country’s readiness to move to e-learning.
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