2021 Systemic Test results confirm devastating impact of Covid-19 on education
27 February 2022
In January this year, I called for the scrapping of the 1 metre rule in schools which has required the continued rotation of learners in schools across the province and the country.
There was overwhelming support for the call for full-time attendance from all sectors, as there was strong and mounting evidence emerging that the learning losses suffered by our learners were having long-term negative consequences, and that these were outweighing the risks of Covid-19 in schools.
We are now able to provide even further evidence of this. While our schools have thankfully returned to full-time attendance, the 2021 Systemic Tests, conducted in the Western Cape in October 2021, provide the clearest, internationally benchmarked and independent analysis of learning losses suffered by the learners in our province.
While we are the only province to conduct such tests, it is an indication of what the effects of this pandemic are on learners across South Africa.