A lot goes into bringing up children and a huge part of it is their schooling. From daycare to the last year of high school, parenting includes taking care to choose the right school for your child, to create a strong foundation for their future. Yet, the learner population is growing, while the number of teachers dwindles, and that’s not mentioning the required schooling infrastructure for the high demand.

It’s a sad and frustrating prospect when you think about those children who are yet to start their schooling career, but it’s bad right now too. There are numerous learners who, when the next year starts, as it has been the past few years, will be without a school — they are oversubscribed. Within those overcrowded buildings, there aren’t enough educators to provide adequate attention to the individual child. As if parents and guardians don’t have enough to worry about, every new cycle, thousands find themselves scrambling for space, being forced to enrol in schools that don’t align with their vision for their children and even sending their children far away. 

Online schools, like UCT Online High School, are helping to alleviate a lot of this pressure. Tech-based education allows for far more learners to be admitted. Unfortunately, not all online schools are quite where they need to be. Many were started as a knee-jerk reaction to the pandemic, and aren’t able to cater to all the measures necessary for a successful school career. 

The limitations of four walls that can only sit 30 or so children are one of the reasons parents and guardians need to apply to multiple schools, which still doesn’t guarantee a place for their children. However, that’s not the only challenge the national education system faces. Who’s teaching? Are they actually teaching? The current system lets a lot of children fall through the cracks because they’re under-stimulated or they’re left to fall far behind the rest of the class.

Knowing first-hand the exponential impact an effective online education can have from his success with GetSmarter and being mindful of the disservice to our country’s learners, Rob Paddock pursued a different tier in education, the secondary level. UCT Online High School is a partnership between the world-class University of Cape Town and the ed-techpreneur’s Valenture Institute. The two powerhouses have come together to serve a unique tech-based learning platform that allows UCT Online High School to admit many more learners than a traditional school. It is supported by a suite of Learning Designers, Support Coaches and the best Teachers the country has to offer. Being a digital school means progress is easily tracked so learners, Teachers and guardians can all monitor this and the data collected helps to ensure that the learners are constantly getting the best possible education. 

The state of education in the country is in need of a complete overhaul. It will need a lot of work to get us out of the depths of dissatisfaction parents and guardians face, starting with enough classrooms for every learner. Happily, solutions like UCT Online High School are available to ease the burden and bring us into the future. 

Contact their friendly Admissions Counsellors if you’re in need of a place for your child, or ask them any questions you may have about online learning.