October school holiday stays put: Motshekga
Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga has confirmed that the October school vacation will not fall away, as was previously considered.
Motshekga addressed the media on Sunday on the education sector's response to the impact of Covid-19.
"The Council of Education Ministers met on Friday to consider inputs from stakeholders, following rounds of consultations, regarding the already amended school calendar for the 2021 academic year," Motshekga explained.
"In the end, CEM agreed that the amended 2021 school calendar must be retained as it was from its very last amendment and that the October vacation will not be interfered with.
"CEM further recommended that the lost number of school days, should be recovered at district and school-level, but with reasonableness."
The minister also addressed concerns around learning losses due to the pandemic.
"The unpredicted closures of our schools, and the unplanned disruptions to teaching and learning due to the Covid-19 pandemic, have resulted in the reversal of gains made in the last 20 years," Motshekga said.
"Research indicates that lost school days, lead to foregone learning losses.
"International experience confirms learning losses experienced during pandemics, lead to long-term adverse effects, including learners obtaining lower overall educational value, and ultimately lower lifetime earnings.
"Thankfully, we have now begun to measure Covid-19 related learning losses in our local contexts, by comparing how much children learnt in 2020, with how much they learned in an average school year before that.
"These measures indicate that between 50% and 75% of a typical year's worth of learning, was lost during 2020.
"The delay in the start of the academic year in 2021, and the extended absence of learners from school, would have a long-lasting negative impact on society in general, and not only on the entire education sector.”
READ ALSO:
