As the nationwide lockdown and ongoing coronavirus pandemic disrupts the South African schooling system, experts are saying it would be better to call the academic year off altogether.
According to SABC News, Western Cape Education Expert Professor Jonathan Jansen has suggested scrapping the 2020 academic school year due to the impact the virus has had on the schooling system.
Jansen is suggesting passing every pupil in their current grade and allowing them to move to the next grade in 2021.
“We should simply abandon the school year, by which I mean, pass every child from grade 1 to 11 automatically. So Grade 1’s go to Grade 2 in 2021 and Grade 7’s to Grade 8 and so on. We cannot stop new students coming into the system in Grade 1 and 8 next year and clog up the system. So let everybody pass. Then what we do is we start 2021 to make up for the lost time in education. Yes, we could start the academic year earlier next year and so on and so forth,” said Jansen
Part of Jansen’s strategy includes having a catch up plan in place for the new year and for schools to work with universities and colleges to bridge the gap for matric learners.
Schools across the country are trying their best to teach learners amid the lockdown with online learning picking up in popularity since the lockdown was first instated.
While for some the work may be easier to learn at a distance, others such as matric learners are at a huge disadvantage.
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