Data released by Stats SA on school dropouts due to the impact of Covid-19, as well as the low level of remote access of schools due to lack of information and communications technology (ICT) is worrying. The pandemic disrupted all human activities in all spheres of life including education.
Subsequently, effective teaching and learning came to a halt as schools, especially the disadvantaged ones and other institutions of higher learning, were forced to close to mitigate the spread of the deadly virus.
This resulted in a drastic drop in school attendance. In the process, the department of basic education missed the silver lining in the Covid-19 cloud – the chance to roll out the implementation of the electronic education.
The 2004 draft white paper on e-education – Transforming learning and teaching through information and communication technologies – was never ratified and legislated into a policy for all schools in mostly rural provinces such as Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape to implement e-teaching and e-learning.
Without a legislated policy on the implementation of e-education from the government, the department has been let off the hook and does not need to provide an adequate budget for the procurement and acquisition of ICTs for all schools.
While some politicians, their families and politically connected individuals benefited enormously from the funds that were intended to procure personal protective equipment, no funds were budgeted for schools to procure ICTs such as tablets and laptops for the pupils and teachers to teach and learn at home under hard lockdown.
Despite the raging pandemic, the department wanted teachers and pupils physically at schools doing the normal ‘chalk and chalkboard’ lessons as usual. This mindset needs to change drastically as wide-ranging ICTs provide innovative platforms for remote and diverse teaching and learning activities which were needed during hard lockdown in the country.
However, as internet connectivity is a nightmare in most disadvantaged rural communities, the department needs to liaise with network companies to improve connectivity. While Gauteng is progressing, provinces such as Limpopo are regressing as research has revealed acute shortage of ICTs in schools.
While other provinces are left behind, the Gauteng education department deserves a pat on the back for the splendid work they have done by introducing e-learning in most schools through the Gauteng Online project. Schools were equipped with multiple and networked computers in laboratories or classrooms converted into computer laboratories to implement e-teaching and e-learning initiatives.
There are also Gauteng Online buses with installed computers to assist schools which experience connectivity challenges. Each bus has a satellite dish for internet connectivity. With equitable access to the ICTs, teachers and pupils develop requisite digital skills to search for, locate, evaluate and use information to enhance quality of education, which remains a worrying factor in many dysfunctional schools in disadvantaged rural communities even in the post-apartheid era.
With only a few schools (mostly former model C schools in towns and suburbs) with well-resourced and functional libraries, provision of adequate educational resources is critical to improve pupil outcomes. With networked computers, both teachers and pupils can also access virtual libraries for educational resources. This should be supported by security measures to prevent theft and vandalism of valuable assets such as computers.
The pandemic has exposed the digital divide in SA. The estimated figures of 500,000 children who are not in school is worrying. With our inheritance a fragmented and racial education system, educational transformation in the new political dispensation is incomplete without the provision of adequate ICT resources or tools by the department of basic education to supplement the traditional ‘chalk and chalkboard’ type of pedagogic interaction between teachers and pupils.
• Mojapelo and Ngoepe are professors in the department of information science at Unisa.
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