Fragility compounded: the state of the South African educational system in the aftermath of Covid-19

Abstract

In this chapter we undertake an assessment of how Covid-19 impacted the South African education system two years on. Our argument is that COVID-19 compounded the challenges of an inherently fragile education system. Important elements of this system were precipitously weakened as budget cuts were instituted and funds for infrastructural maintenance diverted towards emergency requirements. The chapter begins with a description of the major structural features of the South African education system that were there before the pandemic, highlighting the country's racialised and classed inequalities. It then describes how government, labour unions, parents and civil society, including non-governmental organisations, responded. The chapter then estimates the losses on contact time, dropouts, and learning. Extrapolating from annual achievement studies conducted in one province, we estimate that after two years of COVID-19-related losses, the national achievement scores were even lower than what we earlier estimated. Our analysis showed that the most fragile parts of the system, serving the poor, struggled to sustain basic levels of functionality. The privileged parts of the education system also experienced further learning losses. Ground previously gained due to targeted intervention was severely eroded. The contribution ends with an evaluation of the responses of the South African government using the ideas presented by the International Commission on the Futures of Education.