life
EDUCATION
IS YOUR CHILD
FALLING BEHIND? The abrupt move from classroom to remote learning due to the pandemic has been detrimental to many children’s learning. Here’s what you can do to help your kids catch up. By CEBOKAZI SOTOBE ACCORDING TO THE 2020 UNICEF ‘EDUCATION AND COVID-19’ REPORT, more than 1 billion children are at risk of falling behind due to school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. To keep children learning, countries have been implementing remote education programmes. Yet, many children do not have internet access, personal computers, TVs or even radio at home, amplifying the effects
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Spring 2021
of existing learning inequalities. As a result, many face the risk of never returning to school, undoing years of progress made in education around the world.
The online schooling dilemma According to Amnesty International, South Africa has borne the heaviest burden in Africa in terms of COVID-19 reported cases and reported deaths. But things were bad even before the pandemic. A report by Amnesty International conducted from 2017-2019 in Gauteng and the Eastern Cape, revealed that out of 23 471 public
schools, 72% had no internet access and 239 schools lacked electricity. Nationally, only 22% of households have a computer and 10%, an internet connection. Most children therefore have little prospect of being able to participate in online schooling and have parents or carers who are usually not in a position to homeschool. Learners were out of school for a considerable period of time over the past year owing to school closures. By early August 2020, South African children had lost on average between 30 and 59 days of school, depending on their grade. The lack of education during this period is sanlamreality.co.za
