EDITORIAL | Yes, KZN’s matrics need support, but so do all other pupils

The department of basic education and its provincial counterparts began earnestly implementing a curriculum recovery plan after schooling was severely disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

At least 54% of teaching time was lost in 2020 and 22% in 2021 due to school closures, rotational classes and absenteeism. It is also well documented that in historically disadvantaged schools about 70% of learning was lost in 2020. So when all pupils started attending classes on a full-time basis from February 7, after rotational teaching had been the norm at many schools since June 2020, there was a collective sigh of relief.

But the return to normality was short-lived for the 378,692 pupils at the 630 schools in KwaZulu-Natal that were affected by the recent devastating floods. At least 124 of these schools were extensively damaged, while 101 are inaccessible after bridges and access roads were flooded and washed away. The total cost of the damage to the schools is said to be about R442.4m, which includes the cost of providing 98 mobile classrooms. Sadly, 58 pupils, including 42 from Pinetown, 10 from Umlazi and two each from the Umzinyathi, iLembe and Ugu districts, were among the 435 people who died in the floods.

As mopping up operations began, the full extent of the devastation began to sink in.

At Dr Macken Mistry Primary School in Newlands, Durban, which was almost completely submerged, there was a sense of utter despair and hopelessness. Computers, hard drives, furniture, textbooks, stationery, teaching materials, school records and new pupils’ uniforms were destroyed. The principal, Pompey Sukool, aptly summed up the situation when he said: “Everything is gone, reams of duplicating paper, the admissions register, learners’ registers and the school logbook, which is an important record. We are starting off with sweet nothing.”

Disruptions to pupils’ education, especially in the crucial foundation phase will have an adverse effect on their schooling in later years.

Unfortunately, schooling at Dr Macken Mistry is not expected to resume any time soon as the mammoth task of removing the debris and mud could take weeks or even months.

A similar scenario is playing out at many other flood-affected schools. What is extremely worrying is the inescapable fact that pupils cut off from the 101 schools that are inaccessible will potentially not be receiving contact lessons until the access roads and bridges are repaired or rebuilt. How long this will take is anyone’s guess.

Schools have resorted to measures adopted during the hard lockdown, such as distributing work packs to pupils and delivering worksheets and voice notes via WhatsApp. Obviously these measures are far from ideal, especially because of connectivity and data challenges.

Education experts and teachers will also attest that face-to-face teaching is absolutely indispensable.

A huge concern is that 402 of the 630 affected schools are primary schools catering for 218,734 pupils.

Disruptions to pupils’ education, especially in the crucial foundation phase (grades R, one, two and three), will have an adverse effect on their schooling in later years. According to the Progress in International Reading literacy Study (PIRLS), 78% of grade four pupils in SA cannot read for meaning. The absence of contact time for primary school pupils in the affected schools is likely to be a huge setback to the government’s plan to get all 10-year-olds reading for meaning by 2030.

The KwaZulu-Natal education department said it will announce intervention programmes this week that will include targeting matric pupils at schools that are not operational.

It is no secret that provincial education departments spend tens of millions of rand annually on extra classes and special holiday camps for grade 12 pupils. While this is to be applauded, our plea to the basic education department and KwaZulu-Natal is not to forget about pupils in other grades at the flood-stricken schools. Under no circumstances should their education be sidelined. These pupils should receive the same special treatment normally reserved for the country’s matrics. We expect nothing less. ​