Research by the Department of Education shows that learning has been the biggest casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020, with the time learners spent in school being drastically reduced.
The consequences of the unravelling of the 2020 school year spilt over into the 2021 school year with thousands of learners, from grade R to Grade 12, either not starting school or not returning to class.
While teachers, parents and caregivers all did their best to help learners during the 2020 school year, research shows that actual learning fell by the wayside as learners could not go to school for 54% of the school year.
Professor Martin Gustafsson: About 80% of learning has been lost in 2020.
So far 50% of the 2021 school has been lost for a large number of learners #Learninglosses— Dep. Basic Education (@DBE_SA) August 29, 2021
Researcher for the Department of Basic Education, Professor Martin Gustafsson says the disruptions due to COVID-19 have long-lasting effects.
“That then raises the question how is it that 80% of a year’s learning has been lost if we only lost 54% of the year in respect to time with teachers? And here what we need to remember is that with these disruptions, learning does not happen as it did before. There is also forgetting that happens. These disruptions have effects on learners that go beyond what one might think, just looking at the time that learners have lost,” says Gustafsson.
The situation for the 2021 school year has not improved as school attendance is so far at 50% because of the rotation system schools implemented so that they could remain open during the pandemic.
“Children are losing two days of school in almost half of the system. This is really what lies behind these learning losses. If children are not in contact with teachers, especially children from disadvantaged communities, learning does not happen as it should,” adds Gustafsson.
The research shows that during the 2021 school year, about 10 000 fewer children between the ages of 7 to 14 returned to school, while 25 000 fewer children started Grade R or Grade 1.
Video: Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga media briefing on COVID-19 impact on schooling
Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, says it is especially concerning that children are missing the foundation stages.
“I never want to say crisis, but very serious. The challenges around learning and teaching are very serious and if we don’t find a way of containing them now, the consequences are dire. The fact that education in the country is 12 years, it’s not just thumb suck, it’s because of what must happen in the 12 years. So if you lose a year you lose two. It’s like losing your fingers in the process – it has long term effects,” says Motshekga.
She says Treasury has given her department the go-ahead to appoint teacher assistants to help mitigate the adverse effects of the pandemic during the past two years on teaching and learning.
“We’re having teacher assistants. We’ve really been begging Treasury to give us more money to get teachers assisted. Through the teacher’s assistants, we are really going to do more where teachers are more focused on teaching and teachers assistants can help with administration and can be trained on how to deal with learners, slow learners but also can give psycho-social support. That’s part of some of our responses,” says Motshekga.
She urged the class of 2021 to stay strong and remain focused as they prepare for their final school exams at the end of the year.
