By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Democratic Alliance has proposed a number of changes for school timetables in a bid to make up for lost teaching time during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the CRAMS-TIMMS survey, learners have lost between 50-75% of learning time over the last two years. This has wide-ranging implications for learners and it is important that the feasibility of various methods are considered to ensure that they catch up on the curriculum, the political party said.
Some of the proposals made by the DA to catch up this lost time include:
- Trim the curriculum and focus on the basic skills;
- Address the teacher vacancy rate as a matter of urgency;
- Provide extra lessons through absorbing graduates and calling back retired teachers, with the consideration of remuneration;
- Work with the Departments of Higher Education and Treasury to consider increasing the number of bursaries for teaching with a focus on STEM subjects;
- Extending the school day by an hour.
“The DA is looking into a variety of solutions for pupils to catch up on learning and teaching-time lost, of which the extension of the schooling time is a possible option,” it said.
This, of course cannot go without the adequate funding to support it or without the consultation of a variety stakeholders; including learners, teachers and parents. As well as investigating how beneficial and practical this option is, other aspects such as the provision of incentives to teachers, considering learner transport and school nutrition must be considered.”
Schools in the country recently returned to full-time teaching following the government’s decision to end rotational timetables.
Under the regulations, all primary, secondary and special schools from both public and independent schools returned to full-time attendance from 7 February.
Other significant changes that were introduced from this date include:
- All contact sport and non-contact sport may resume, including training, intra-school and interschool games.
- Individuals who have tested positive for Covid-19 and their contacts are no longer required to isolate. Only people who have symptoms or are advised by a health care worker should isolate for not more than seven days after which the learner, teacher, school support staff or official should return to school/office.
- Schools should introduce face mask breaks for learners (5 – 15 minutes for every two hours during the school day) where they can safely remove their masks in an outdoor area.
- All learners aged 12 – 17 years and older are also encouraged to vaccinate at their nearest vaccination sites
SA Teachers’ Union (SAOU) spokesperson Stephan Van der Berg says schools there could not be a one-size-fits-all approach.
“Not all schools are behind in the curriculum. It cannot be expected that everyone’s school day should be extended by one hour across the board. In one of the SAOU’s opinion polls to the union’s members, 80% of the respondents reported that their schools were up to date in the curriculum. With the remaining 20% reporting that they are only between 5-15% behind.”
Another issue to consider was that most public schools depend on public transport, which has “fixed schedules and routes”, he said.
“Should the Department of Education wish to extend the school day, they will have to refer said agreement back to the bargaining chamber, in particular, the Education Labour Relations Council. There they will need to renegotiate the purported change with the education unions.”
“Without the consent of the education unions, the employer cannot deviate from the agreed, formal working hours of educators.”
Responding to the DA’s calls, the education department said the extension of the school day was not on the cards.
Meanwhile the closing date to register for the upcoming May/June Senior Certificate examinations has been extended to 18 February 2022.