Programmes can reduce SA’s learning backlog
“Covid-19 and lockdown brought to light the importance of at-home and in-community learning
WHILE some would argue that the worst impacts of Covid are slowly beginning to recede in South Africa, this is absolutely not the case for the millions of school children from townships and poorer communities.
Instead, the learning backlogs caused by school closures and reduced in-class time during the various stages of the Covid-19 lockdown, even beyond 2020, have merely exacerbated an already dire situation in schools catering to the most disadvantaged of learners.
This is the stark warning issued by The Learning Trust (TLT), an education-focused NGO that has funded and supported more than 150 educational non-profits and schools in various provinces. In its recently launched report titled “After School Programmes in South Africa: The Investment Case”, TLT says there is simply no way under the current approach to education that the Covid-induced backlog can be eliminated.
According to the report, in the poorest schools – known as quintile 1 to 3 schools – 44% of all students drop out before they reach their matric year. Learners also take an average of three years longer to matriculate (15 years) than their best-resourced counterparts (12 years), and only 14% percent of those who achieve matric do well enough to enter university. In allimportant maths, only 1% of learners will achieve a pass mark above 65%.
Given that these startling statistics applied prior to Covid, when these children were already lagging behind their better-resourced peers, the now-critical backlog will create even greater disparity in an education system bedevilled by entrenched inequality.
Among the solutions to this crisis is an immediate strategy to invest in and expand after-school programmes (ASPs), which have proved that they can measurably improve learner success in quintile 1 to 3 schools and help to reduce the unacceptably high dropout rate.
JOY OLIVIER author
TLT says non-profit ASPs have operated for more than two decades in townships and poorer communities, and occupy a pivotal niche in the education ecosystem by offering tutoring and homework support, skills-building, sports, information and communications technology learning, and arts and culture.
“After School Programmes in South Africa: The Investment Case” emphasises that although the ASP sector is too small realistically to assist the Department of Basic Education to eliminate the huge learning backlog, it is well positioned to make a measurable improvement, even in the short term.
“This improvement will increase markedly if there is additional investment in ASPs from the government, the private sector, and local and international donors.
“Covid-19 and lockdowns really brought to light the importance of at-home and in-community learning, and the education community is now increasingly looking beyond the classroom to the broader education ecosystem – including community members and caregivers,” says Joy Olivier, the author of the report.
“The focus to date has largely been on the cost-per-learner in ASP participation, which requires significant investment to scale. Analysis of the cost-per-outcome, however, shows the significant returns on the ASP investment and makes a strong case for such investments.”
The report says that among the learner outcomes that ASPs can improve – evidenced by case studies of two such programmes – is that they produce matric results that are consistently above national averages, particularly in critical subject areas such as maths and science.
ASPs also reduce the need to repeat grades and decrease the number of learners who opt to drop out of school.
For example, as 85% of the learners enrolled in the IkamvaYouth ASP pass matric, the number of years of schooling required per Grade 12 learning outcome is significantly decreased. The number of years of schooling required per Bachelor-level matric pass drops from 104 to 31.
Hence, even when factoring in the ASP participation cost, the price tag per Bachelor pass drops from a national average of R2 million per learner to R770 000.
TLT executive director Sibongile Khumalo says: “We know that by providing a safe environment for children and youth, and supporting their academic and socio-emotional development, we improve their chances of not only finishing school, but doing well and going on to live productive and sustainable lives.”
She believes the report is significant, not only because it highlights the inequality in South Africa’s education system, but also because it clearly demonstrates the potential of ASPs to improve learning outcomes.
“The report presents a viable catch-up intervention at scale.
“In addition to adding to the ASP sector’s evidence base, we make the case for more funding to be released in support of the community-based interventionists who deliver these programmes.
“By investing in extended learning, it’s possible to significantly turn the tide on the deeper Covid-induced learning deficits,” Khumalo says.