50% to 75% of learning lost during the lockdown

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Department of Basic Education says it will take time for the country to recover the lost time and negative effect suffered as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Department released a statement saying the lockdown saw them losing learning that will pose a negative impact on the learners in the long run for a long time including communities at large.

They said they lost between 50% and 75% of learning time during the lockdown.

“We have now begun to measure Covid-19 related learning losses in South Africa by comparing how much children learned in 2020 by comparing how much they in a normal year before that. These measures indicates that between 50% and 75% of a normal year’s worth of learning was lost during 2020” said the Research Director in the Basic Education Department Dr Stephen Taylor.

Dr Taylor also said that the lockdown had a greater impact in poorer areas where there is little to no access to remote learning for learners.

The Department further said that the impact may lead to huge increase of dropouts should it not be tackled quickly and appropriately.