Cape Town - Western Cape Education MEC Debbie Schäfer says that Covid-19 has had a devastating effect on the academic performances of learners, as recently proven by the systemic tests conducted for students in Grades 3, 6, and 9.
Schäfer said that there has been strong support for full-time attendance, despite the risks of Covid-19 but the results of the latest systemic tests have shown dire results, with great drops in results from the previous testing done in 2019.
The Western Cape is the only province to conduct these tests and the results have provided some indication of the effects of the pandemic across South Africa and the results are alarming.
“Overall, learners have fallen up to 70% of a school year behind previous cohorts in language, and up to 106% of a year behind in maths.”
The 2021 results are seen in comparison to tests conducted in 2019, as testing could not take place in 2020, Schäfer said.
“While we had previously made great progress with a steady increase in performance in years preceding 2020, these gains have unfortunately been reversed as a result of the pandemic.”
Schäfer said there were plans in place to try to improve on these results.
“The WCED is studying these results and accompanying diagnostics with a focus on updating its learning recovery plans to address these losses. We already have a number of programmes under way to improve literacy and numeracy, which we are looking at expanding.”
There is hope that a return to full-time attendance will hopefully create better working environments for learners and allow for more continuous teaching and learning.
“Ultimately, the most important way to claw back these losses is to ensure that every child is at school every day, that teaching and learning time is maximised, and that every effort is made to promote a learning culture beyond the school,” Schäfer said.
Schäfer stressed the importance of schools and all governing bodies working together to try to get standards back to the level they were at pre-pandemic.
“It is now more critical than ever that no person or organisation disrupts schooling. In addition to violating children’s constitutional rights, disruptions will only exacerbate the existing losses and put their futures in greater jeopardy.
“I appeal to all the residents of the Western Cape not to let their personal, political, or commercial interests override our learners’ education. We all need to work together to recover from this pandemic.”