Education: FROM DISRUPTION TO RECOVERY

Education: FROM DISRUPTION TO RECOVERY

Our government regards education as a long-standing challenge facing the country, and its highest domestic priority, at the same time. Right now, the largest share of government expenditure is allocated to education (5%GDP), with 21% of non-interest allocations set aside for basic and higher education.

South Africa has achieved much of its objectives in terms of creating better access to schooling, with around 98% of children (between the ages of 7 and 14) being enrolled in school. However, there are still many challenges that are yet to be redressed, and Covid-19 has not made this mission any easier for our Education Sector.

AT A GLANCE

South Africa currently has more than 25,000 schools, 23,000 of which are public schools that make provisions for more than 12 million learners. These estimates indicate that, on average, there is one school for every 500 learners.

25 000 + Schools

23 000 Public schools

12 Million + Learners

500 Learners per school

STATISTICS PRIOR TO COVID-19

• A UNESCO report estimated that sub-Saharan Africa would need a further 6,3 million teachers in order to achieve universal primary education by 2030.

• According to current records of the Department of Basic Education, SA’s public education system comprises 410 000 teachers.

• The country sees about 15 000 new graduate teachers per year.

• As per the TALIS, 60% of teachers in South Africa are female, of which only 22% hold principal positions.

STATISTICS POST COVID-19

• 2.2 million jobs were lost as a result of the economy shutting down during the lockdown period. This caused a surge in learner’s absenteeism.

• 1650+ teachers passed away as a result of the coronavirus

• It is estimated that around 750 000 South African learners dropped out of school as a result of the pandemic.

• E-learning may have been adopted, but it is estimated that students are at least one year behind in their learning.

THE FUTURE OF LEARNING

As Covid-19 has forced us all to adapt, so must our education sector in order to make sure that we recover, and ensure that every child in Africa gains access to quality education, independent of their financial situation or geographical location. The only thing that stands in our way is funding and infrastructure.

Current technological trends emerging for improved quality of education include:

• The Democratisation of Education

• Virtual Classrooms

• Nanolearning methods

• Multi-factor authentication and verification processes for online education platforms

• Browser tracking solutions to ensure the integrity of online assessments

In South Africa, digital learning gaps have become more evident. Pupils from vulnerable communities attend government-funded learning institutions. Often, education is free here, but these institutions face the harsh reality of weak infrastructure, the lack of schoolbooks and tools, overcrowding, a scarcity of educators and high teacher dropout rates. With this in mind, not all pupils have been able to gain access to online learning platforms, causing major disparity. Alongside access, internet connectivity also affected teaching quality, as pupils in impoverished communities could not benefit from these digital learning tools.

INNOVATIVE INITIATIVES

1. The University of Cape Town (UCT) launched the UCT Online High School to assist in closing inequality gaps in the country.

2. The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) got on board and gave out more than 180 000 laptops to aid students with the shift to online learning platforms.

3. Stellenbosch University partnered with the wider Stellenbosch community under the umbrella of #StellenboschUnite, in order to procure and distribute food and provision parcels on a weekly basis.

According to a critical skills survey, conducted by Xpatweb, the most in-demand, ‘scarce’ skills in the country that must factor into the curriculums of our institutions, are:

• Health Professions

• Accounting

• Science Professionals

• Related Clinical Sciences

• Senior Financial Executives

• C-Suite Executives

• Artisans

• Media and Marketing Specialists

• Foreign language speakers

• ICT

• Engineers