Dear Editor
Following the severe impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the education sector, the DA welcomes the Western Cape Education Department’s (WCED) #BackOnTrack recovery plan which seeks to tackle the learning losses experienced in the Foundation Phase.
The development of our children’s education, specifically those in Grade 1 to 3, is paramount to a child being able to learn and succeed in the school system. This is why I will be posing parliamentary questions to WCED Minister David Maynier to ascertain more details regarding this plan as well as the additional complementary initiatives currently underway.
By allocating an additional 2 hours of group-guided reading and 1 hour of Mathematics every week, it is expected that every Foundation Phase learner will gain an extra 60 hours of learning over the course of the 3rd and 4th term. This will be facilitated by adjusting the current Life Skills teaching schedule so that the length of the school day is not affected.
MPP Deidré Baartman says: “It is this adjustment that is crucial towards our post-Covid-19 recovery efforts. The pandemic had profound consequences on learning outcomes following the loss of face-to-face teaching, which had undone the continual and steady progress the WCED had made during the years preceding Covid-19. This was particularly shown in the Western Cape’s systemic tests last year, wherein both pass rates and averages in Mathematics and Languages decreased since 2019.
Nonetheless, the Western Cape is well poised to build back better after the difficult years of the pandemic. As the only province to oversee standardised tests in these subjects, we will be able to push forward with policies informed by data that benefits our learners.
While it will take time to undo the effects of the learning losses, we are confident that every child will continue to receive quality education in every classroom.”
Regards
Deidré Baartman, MPP
DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Education
