What the Four-Week Closure is Doing to South African Education

In another turn of inconsistent events, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced last week Thursday that public schools will again close for four weeks due to the rising numbers of Coronavirus cases in South Africa. He stated that the health and wellbeing of teachers and learners remain the top priority. Even as it may, the ramifications of these closures will be felt far into the future. By 24 August, 50% of the academic year will be missed out on, hence why the academic year will be extended past the end of 2020.

Experts have warned that 974 000 children under the age of six will be left without supervision as single moms need to head back to work to ensure that they are able to provide for their families. Furthermore, it has been advised that the long-term effects of closures could be the cause of a weakening in matric results and pass rates until 2031 if there is no strategy put in place and implemented sufficiently for learners to catch up. 

Schools have been closed since March, but this decision was also made despite scientific evidence that the virus in children is much milder than adults and that they hardly ever display any symptoms. The South African Paediatric Association presented evidence in May that children don’t transmit the virus as easily as adults and they are highly unlikely to pass the virus on to their parents or teachers. 

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) also made their opinion heard and stated that this latest decision by the government will ensure that over 10 million South African learners will lose out on over half of the school days. Evidence was also brought forward that keeping children at home can have health consequences – this includes an increase in hunger and malnutrition. Underprivileged children will fall even further behind than the rest of the demographic. There is already a massive gap in South African communities where thousands and thousands of children do not have access to online learning and resources in order for them to keep up to date with the curriculum.

Further to these devastating effects, a lot of communities do not have access to proper sanitation and running water. Ramaphosa also announced that matrics and their teachers will only take a week-long break, while grade 7s will resume schooling after a two-week recess. This is an even bigger concern as South Africans are on the verge of losing all faith in our leaders – uneven decision-making, empty promises, and corruption are at the forefront during the Coronavirus pandemic and we can only assume that a very bleak future lies ahead for our country’s citizens and children.