The quest to proceed with academic year online is an inhumane punishment on the majority who fall on the rough side of our extremely unequal lived reality which is a product of our colonialization
Firstly, we must express our appreciation and support for the decisions of our South African government in enforcing a much-needed lockdown to focus all efforts on tracing, arresting and treating the coronavirus outbreak in our country. It is our considered view that the virus is only moved by people and the halting of mass movement of people, will aid efforts to deal decisively to the spread of this virus. However, with that said, in a country like ours, where the majority live from hand to mouth, sufficient interventions need to be made by the government, business and civil society to cushion the poor and vulnerable to survive this lockdown.
The interest that teaching and learning commence as in yesterday is shared by all South Africans, especially from within the liberation movement. Teaching and learning is a crucially important activity in the life of any society because its the process in which skills and knowledge are transferred from one to another.
The coronavirus outbreak has placed this important activity on lockdown because schools, universities, and colleges are spaces where hundreds of our people share small spaces such as classrooms and lecture halls, making it impossible to practice physical and/or social distancing. Physical and/or social distancing is amongst the key preventative measures advised by the government and the World Health Organization for all us of to practice in the fight against the spread of Covid19.
This, therefore, leaves our basic and higher education system with very little options to use as a vehicle to ensure the commencement of teaching and learning. The popular choice being advanced by some in the basic and higher education sector is that of using online or virtual mechanization to roll out teaching and learning. This would obviously be the vehicle of choice had our South African society been adequately prepared for it or to be much clearer, had our societal inequalities not made this vehicle an impossible task to guarantee equal, equitable and fair access and success to ALL learners & students regardless of their social reality.
This renders the argument to commence with teaching and learning online a rather insensitive, exclusive, and unethical idea, surfing in highest waves of privilege which blind its proponents from the daily lived experience of the majority of South Africa. Our country’s social reality is characterized by extreme inequality, dehumanizing poverty, disastrous unemployment, and great underdevelopment. All of which are products of our Colonialisation of the Worst (Special) Type.
In our South African reality, online learning, tests, and exams will only be enjoyed by the privileged few, whilst the overwhelming majority who don’t have access, the infrastructure, resources, and means for access will be eliminated from any genuine prospect of success. The careless notion that learners and students who fall in this unfortunate category will be assisted or provided with catch up classes would be to allow our education to unfairly punish those who are have nots, majority of whom are Africans in particular and Blacks in general. Our people cannot be spoken to in this careless fashion as if they are a by the way issue that must still be figured out whilst the academic year proceeds for others, online.
The notions that learners and students who feel they will not be able to succeed in this online teaching and learning being granted the option to be readmitted for their studies in 2021 when they don’t succeed or the option to deregister for the rest of the academic year is simply insulting to us, Africans in particular and Blacks in general, whom these options are admittedly designed for, knowing full well the challenges imposed upon us by our social reality. Mind you, the fact that we accommodate less than 30% of the South African learners and students in our schools and universities increases our problems.
All genuine revolutionary cadres and progressive activists in society have an interest that teaching & learning commences for all learners and students but it’s our duty to be very vigilant and safeguard the interests of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable communities. It is against this understanding that we implore the proponents of the online education route to take a step back from their own individual privileges which may be resulting in a better living reality than the daily lived experience of the overwhelming majority of South Africans whose existence is the following:
– More than 10 million are unemployed
– More 15 million are not economically active
– More than 30 million are living below the poverty line of R992 per month
– More than 5 million are living in informal settlement dwellings
– More than 14% are living as three generations (grandparents, parents & children) in one household
This according to the World Bank and Statistics South Africa. In addition, more than 19 million South Africans are living in rural dwellings according to the United Nations, where basic infrastructure is at its weakest, and technology advancement is still a very distant reality compared to more urban areas.
It is, therefore, our considered view that schools, colleges, and universities must work together with government, business, communities, and other social partners to develop an inclusive amended academic calendar for 2020. This calendar should earmark to commence in June once we have been able to sufficiently ensure that no learner, student, teacher, lecturer, auxiliary worker, and administrator in the education sector will be at risk of contracting this deadly virus. This will also give all these stakeholders ample time to order and procure all necessary protective gear such as re-useable masks & gloves, alcohol-based sanitizer, and roll out soap and sanitizer dispensers in all bathrooms and classrooms/lecture halls throughout the education (basic & higher) sector.
This difficult but necessary academic calendar amendment will result in the 2020 academic year finishing, either, very late in December (provided the June & September holidays are eliminated) or in the first quarter of 2021 to give adequate time to cover all necessary activities in rolling out this year’s curriculum. Furthermore, this will result in the 2021 academic year commencing in the second quarter of the year.
The country is faced with countless socio-economic challenges as a result of this coronavirus outbreak which has worsened our economic situation and deepened social distress in society. Growing challenges of businesses and jobs facing the threat of elimination as part of the painful effects of this pandemic which must preoccupy our thinking & provide much-needed interventions to. Basic survival is threatened by the backlog in the distribution of food parcels and basic necessities to the many of our people who live below the poverty line, this also needs urgent innovative and creative interventions to address.
The premise for the commencement of any teaching and learning for schools, universities, and colleges should be based on the guarantee of an equal, equitable and fair chance for ALL learners & students to gain access and success in the academic experience of every learner or student in the 2020 academic calendar. None of the proponents of the online route have been able to convince us that this would be achieved in their view. We implore the national government to provide this necessary leadership we are articulating in this piece to safeguard the interests of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in our country.
These challenges which COVID19 has exposed in our country should be met with a deliberate and consistent program to deal with a decisive blow to inequality which affects every sector and section of our society. The call for Free Education has always been very much, a call for the transformation and democratization of education from the clutches of the markets in order to transform and democratize all commanding heights of the economy in particular & every sector and/or section of our country, in general, to realize the objective of the people governing and sharing this beautiful country of ours. Of course, we don’t hold any monopoly of wisdom but this is our two cents contribution to this discussion.
Luzuko Bashman is a Former SASCO Western Cape Provincial Chairperson and ANCYL Dullah Omar Regional Chairperson. He writes in his personal capacity.