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Letter - Covid impacts in schools and lessons learnt

2022-05-20  Staff Reporter

Letter - Covid impacts in schools and lessons learnt

Ferdinand N Kamati

 

The Covid-19 pandemic had a severe impact not only on people’s health but also on how they learn, work or live. Among the most notable challenges created by Covid-19 is how to adapt to an education system built around the physical school. Besides, school closures due to Covid-19 have brought significant disruptions to teaching and learning worldwide. The pandemic has given rise to learning losses and increased inequality. 

As the pandemic took its peak in recent months, teachers and administrators were unprepared for the transition and were forced to build emergency remote learning almost immediately. One of the limitations of emergency remote learning is the lack of personal interaction between teachers and learners. 

However, several schools adopted initiatives to apply other methods, such as social media, to improve the remote educational learning and experience. Also, other organisations such as NBC assisted in implementing different learning modes to support remote teaching and learning through broadcasting lesson presentations and offering online and offline distance learning platforms. Alarmingly, these losses were much higher among students whose parents are less educated and/or economically challenged.

To reduce and reverse the long-term negative effects, three things a highly significant to cite, namely: implementing learning recovery programs, protecting the educational budget and preparing for future shocks by building back better. This will help the education sector mitigate these challenges while building a more resilient system that can withstand future crises. The recovery measures are;

Implement learning recovery programmes: The ministry of education needs to implement compulsory learning recovery models for the crisis. For proper implementation, an assessment needs to be carried out to identify students who need learning support. Programmes need to be organised to help teachers and students to remain connected, gain access to educational materials and continue schooling during the period of enhanced quarantine measures when schools are closed. This will allow for the tracking learners’ learning progress. The limited internet connectivity and access to devices for online learning in rural areas in Namibia, compounded by inadequate public support for distance learning, pose challenges. In addition, to learning continuity programmes, the schools can consider students assessment to measure the extent of learning losses and identify the students who have fallen behind and may need additional targeted support to catch up.

Protect the education budget: Given the significant financial constrain that the country has been under during the pandemic, schools face financial shortages. This situation was further exacerbated by the government budget cuts, which jeopardised the gains that have been made in recent years in terms of access to education and improved learning outcomes. To ensure a resilient recovery for the next five years, it is essential that the education budget is protected, and that the schools that need finance the most are supported. To help the most vulnerable students, the government should prioritise by directing much of the funding and resources to support schools delivering remote instructions, particularly schools serving children from marginalised or previously disadvantaged communities. 

Yet, learning recovery programs will not be feasible without substantial financial support. In the presence of budget cuts, affluent families will be able to continue to fund educational boosts; however, low-income families will not as easily be able to fill this gap. The education ministry needs to take up the step to protect and shore up education by allocating funds for teaching aids and equipment as well as providing further support and social protection to teachers and support staff. The education ministry needs to ensure that funds are being used efficiently and that resources are available to support learning recovery interventions, particularly for those learners from marginalised communities.

Prepare for future shocks by building back better: It is imperative that we should not only recover from the pandemic but that we use this experience to become prepared for future crises. The education ministry needs to build its capacity to provide an education recovery model for future crises. Schools should be better prepared to switch easily between face to face and remote learning as needed. This will protect the education of learners not only during future pandemics but also during other shocks that might cause school closures such as natural disasters or adverse weather events. 

It will also create opportunities for more individualised approaches to teaching and learning. It will be necessary to develop flexible curricula that can be taught in person or online. Additionally, teachers need to be better equipped to manage a wide range of IT devices in the event of future school closures. Offering short training courses to improve the digital skills of teachers will help to use the post-pandemics period to rebuild the education system and make them resilient. At the same time, it is important to build a future education system that can make better use of blended learning models to reach all learners at all levels and provide more individualised approaches to teaching. 

Although this is a long term process, the education ministry needs to expand the number of schools with internet connectivity as well as access to digital devices and equipment to allow for greater use of blended learning approaches in schools to go forward. So, building back better requires bold action and vision for the kind of human capital the education ministry needs to grow and thrive in the future. 

It is significant to reform the education system to support learning continuity and operational resilience in schools as well as expanding digitalisation in the education sector. These efforts will help schools to recover from the negative impacts of Covid-19 and other future crises while also adapting to more resilient and flexible approaches.

 

* Ferdinand N Kamati is a PhD scholar, motivational speaker and academic researcher. Reach him at: ferdinandkamati@yahoo.com


2022-05-20  Staff Reporter

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