Covid-19 hangover still weighing heavy on matric class of 2022 and their teachers

It’s that time of the year again where thousands of matriculants are anxiously awaiting the outcome of last year’s final examinations.

The class of 2022 is considered to have endured the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic since 2020. The class in question were in Grade 10 at the height of the pandemic, which had a serious impact on the academic years of both 2020 and 2021.

As bad as 2020 was with the implementation of stringent lockdown rules which meant people’s movements were limited, 2021 was no different, as even though schooling was allowed, it was done on a rotational basis.

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By January of 2022, there was still some 80% of schools in the country that were operating on a rotational basis.

Class will perform despite challenges

With the release of the matric results expected just over a week after the start of the new academic year, general secretary of the biggest teacher union, the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) Mugwena Maluleke is of the opinion that the class of 2022 has been the most affected class of the pandemic.

“We are talking about a class that was unable to go to school regularly, a group of pupils that were subjected to rotational classes.

“Despite all the challenges brought by the pandemic, we still expect this class to do well due to the sacrifices the pupils and teachers made when they embarked on extra classes during weekends and holidays,” Maluleke said.

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Executive director of the second largest teacher union, the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) Basil Manuel echoed Maluleke’s sentiments, saying this class bore most of the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to Manuel, this group and their teachers were forced to put in so much extra work in a bid to recover lost teaching and learning time.

This extra teaching time also meant a shorter festive season break for teachers who only went on recess for a period of three weeks.

“Our concern as Naptosa about a shortened break means that we could also start experiencing issues of burnouts and fatigue,” said Manuel.

Asked what his expectations were about the matric results to be officially released by the Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga on 19 January, Manuel said we would be lucky to record a pass rate of 80%.

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In the previous examinations, the class of 2021 recorded a pass rate of 76.4%, a 0.2% improvement from the 2020 exams at the height of the pandemic.

“Yes, we would really like to have a good outcome but it is the quality of passes that really concerns us as Naptosa because for a while now that has been on the decline,” said Manuel.

Impact of community protests on academic year

Apart from the challenges brought by the pandemic, the 2022 academic year also experienced other challenges ranging from community protests and severe weather conditions, as Manuel further explains:

“In 2022, we received quite a number of reports from different provinces about the number of community protests which had an impact on an already under pressure academic year.

“Just this week, we received reports about a school that was vandalised in Soweto… so the impact of community ills on education is greatly felt by both teachers and children,” Manuel said.

Impact of severe weather conditions

Severe weather conditions which led to flooding, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) early last year, also had a negative impact on school after more than 200 schools were damaged.

ALSO READ: KZN floods: 248 schools damaged, online learning could be re-introduced

“We are still receiving reports from several provinces which were affected by floods, saying there are still schools which are not yet fully repaired,” Manuel said.

Senior research associate at the University of Johannesburg Prof Mary Metcalfe says class of 2022 did lose time in 2020 and 2021 when they were in Grade 10 and then 11.

“In Grade 10 they would have not attended school between end March, and only returned end September.

“In their Grade 11, many would only have attended every second day. Apart from the lost opportunity to learn, many may have struggled with the rhythm and routines of the disciplines of school,” said Metcalfe.

Metcalfe said the last two years of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) results for pupils learning under the pandemic have not been as poor as many would have expected.

Too much focus on matric pass rate

Metcalfe is of the opinion that focusing too much on the national figure of the pass rate does education a disservice.

“It kind of emphasises that the nation has a particular school and it conceals how many young people have dropped out before they even had a chance to write and those children are going to be at huge risk of not being included in society.

“It also conceals the inequalities in relation to performances across different provinces because different provinces are differently resourced… So I never give a prediction and when I do look at the matric results, the total result whether its 67%, 78% or 83%, is just an over simplification of the bigger picture,” Metcalfe added.

Education activist Dr Muavia Gallie said the rotational time model that was adopted in 2020 reduced instructional time to 50% of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), and the reduction of content of 30%, for two years (2020 and 2021). 

The recovery annual teaching plan was a strategy, according to Gallie, was to make up for both the time and content loss. 

However, Gallie is of the view that the lack of additional annual school calendar days lead to no significant recovery of previous years’ (2020 and 2021) teaching and learning loss.

“Both teachers and learners were affected by a 50% content loss and instructional time for 2020 and 2021 and such a loss will be more devastating in subjects, such as mathematics and sciences, that are based on prior knowledge from previous years. 

“In particular, the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination papers of mathematics will challenge pupils with content topics that were covered during Grade 10 and 11, and only be revised in Grade 12.  

“If the content topics were not covered and/or insufficiently in their content knowledge, it can deter pupils from engaging with these topics,” said Gallie.