Home classes for pupils over Covid-19 ‘not feasible’

Singularity University (SU) South Africa, a subsidiary of a US company offering executive education programmes and specialising in innovation consultancy, yesterday agreed with the minister of health that the country’s level of technological advancement meant that should there be a lockdown due to coronavirus spread, teaching pupils at home would not be feasible.

Fielding questions from the media on the virus this week, Minister Zweli Mkhize said South Africa has not yet advanced to the level of being able to teach pupils at home using technology, should there be an instance in which a mass isolation has to be enforced.

“We have thus far had no discussion with the department of basic education.

“At the moment, using technology to teach pupils at home is not possible, because we would need connectivity, access to gadgets like tablets and access to Wi-Fi.

“It is a matter that the ministerial task team will have to take up with the basic education department.”

SU co-chief executive officer Mic Mann agreed: “At the moment there is a gap in terms of connectivity and devices needed to show a level of innovation and disruptive thinking.

“We need to make some radical changes and adapt to this environment.

“New business models and business cases need to be developed and presented to government. There also needs to be new business relationships created between the private and public sector.”

Should SU expertise be required to beef up the inter-ministerial task team on coronavirus, Mann said his company would be “more than willing to help”.

“SU in South Africa has already developed a one-day educational leadership programme on disaster resilience and how to protect yourself and organisations.

“We are working with our global faculty experts from around the world who deal with global health, disaster resilience, biotechnology, adaptability and leadership,” said Mann.

On whether there were any international case studies on Covid-19 that South Africa could learn from, Mann said: “There are many studies coming from the coronavirus and people should follow the World Health Organisation.

“Everyone should download the Covid-19 application on Apple or android to follow all the latest updates on infections.

“The application gives you the most current articles coming out globally.

“We are already in talks with many top South African corporates as well as government about how we can all work together to effectively respond to the virus.”

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