COVID-19 impacts on school operations: a pushback on the attainment of SDG 4 in South Africa

Abstract

In May 2023, the World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 was no longer a public health emergency of international concern. However, this declaration does not remove severe negative impacts COVID-19 had on the education sector. This paper sets an objective to determine the impact of COVID-19 and the responses thereto in school operations in two municipalities in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Following a mixed methods research design, data were generated through an educator/teacher survey (n = 226), complemented by key informant interviews (n = 14) analysed in ATLAS.ti. Key findings reveal the severity of COVID-19 impacts on teaching and learning, feeding schemes, transport, and sporting activities, which resulted in a pushback on progress towards the attainment of quality education as per Sustainable Development Goal 4. All 39 schools sampled did not migrate to remote learning and were, at some point, completely shut down during the hard lockdowns. The only key innovation from the National Government was to introduce Hot Sitting/Platooning, and Rotational Block Learning. Although face-to-face classes continued thereafter, there was limited learning, low exit pass rates, increased absenteeism, and dropouts. There were also other challenges, including growth in the number of orphaned learners, vandalism, traumatised learners, and increased staff workload due to catch-up classes. The paper recommends a revisit of the schooling system post-COVID-19 to assess the magnified gaps, including the digital divide between private and public schools, and general internet connectivity. School disaster risk reduction and management plans are further recommended as medium to long-term resilience and adaptation measures.