(a) Switching Schooling Model during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
The current schooling model under the recently amended Directions issued in terms of Regulation 4(3) of the Regulations made under the Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002) regarding the dates for the re-opening of schools, to provide for the 2021 academic year, and for measures to address, prevent and combat the spread of COVID-19 in the national Department of Basic Education, all Provincial Departments of Education, all education district offices and all schools in the Republic of South Africa, as published under Government Notice No. 343, in Government Gazette No. 43465 of 23 June 2020, as amended, is adequate to ensure sufficient curriculum coverage under the prevailing level of COVID-19 infections. Therefore, there is no need for the Republic to switch over to home schooling alone.
(b) Alternative Teaching Methods
(i) Educational Broadcasting (TV & Radio):
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) in collaboration with the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT) and various partners have since April 2020 adopted the use of online and broadcast platforms under the theme "Woza Matric Catchup Programme 2020". Planning is currently underway to expand the online and broadcast learning support intervention to cover all grades (Grade R - 12) under the "Remote Learning Programme 2021". This includes the following:
(aa) TV Educational Broadcasting:
(bb) Radio Educational Broadcasting:
The SABC and private community radio stations in collaboration with Provincial Education Departments broadcasted Covid-19 Curriculum Support Programmes to parents and Grade R – 12 learners in 2020. Plans are underway to request the broadcasters to offer similar services in 2021 under the DBE/NECT Remote Learning Programme. This will include the following:
ii) Applications for smartphones
There is already a proliferation of free educational smartphone applications available to users, ranging from content access, communicator, learning management systems and assessment Apps. Many of which are already being used by schools, teachers and learners to support remote learning.
There is also a multitude of local online educational content portals and learning support platforms, some of which as zero-rated and accessible free of charge to support remote learning. Many of these platforms are augmented by smartphone applications.
The DBE website at https://www.education.gov.za/covid19supportpackage.aspx
provides links for accessing online content resources for parents, caregivers and learners to support learning on its landing page.
Some of the main online platforms and portals include: