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The COVID-19 pandemic is really testing our education system, and it might cause a ‘lost generation’ of educated South Africans in the coming years.

Because of efforts to social distance and keep students safe from the virus, a continued rotational attendance of pupils (referred to as the ‘shift system’) has many children in the country spending too much time at home when they should be learning at school.

This substantial change in how students are learning could have significant long-term, negative consequences for children, education experts warn.

Via BusinessTech, Stellenbosch University researcher Nic Spaull says that if the department doesn’t do something about this system we could land up with a “lost generation on our hands”:

He said that pupils at 80% of public schools, mostly no-fee institutions, are still only attending class every second or third day.

Based on current projections, Spaull said that the average grade 3 child in June 2021 knows about the same as the average grade 2 child of 2019.

Lost time could also impact matric marks in the future, experts warn, with gaps in learning caused by students being moved up in grades without having spent enough time on the learning material.

Management consulting firm McKinsey & Company added some data to these concerns:

[They] found that many students are also dealing with added trauma, including economic dislocation, hunger, and mental health challenges—all of which clearly affect learning, regardless of how it takes place.

The education sector has suffered severely in terms of learning and teaching because of the virus outbreak, and government is concerned about the impacts of any more lost teaching time.

That’s largely why, despite the third wave on the rise, government is sticking to the decision to keep schools open.

However, education minister Angie Motshekga is speaking about vaccinating 582 000 teachers and teaching staff over a two-week period:

“For the next two weeks, we make the clarion call to our school communities to drop all and vaccinate.

“In order for us to successfully complete this programme, we will need to keep schools open. Any disruptions would be undesirable,” Motshekga said.

The rollout will formally start on Wednesday, June 23, which is just before students are expected to go back to school for the third school term, and will finish up around July 8.

[source:businesstech]