The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has attributed the declining pass rates in their standardised systemic examinations to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic which resulted in severe learning losses.
Standardised systematic examinations serve as a yardstick against which schools' progress in core subjects is measured against other schools. The mathematics pass rate declined by 13.8 percentage points while the language declined by 8 percentage points from 2019 to 2021.
To address this, the WCED has announced that foundation phase learners (Grade 1-3) will have an extra two hours per week allocated to reading and one extra hour per week will be allocated to mathematics. This intervention will be implemented in the final two terms of the 2022 academic year.
Teaching Hours
Education MEC in the Western Cape David Maynier has assured parents that this intervention will take place within the current school calendar and not result in extra hours being added to the school day. He adds that foundation phase learners were most affected by the learning losses experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic and the loss of face-to-face learning.
We must do everything we possibly can to ensure that our youngest students are not disadvantaged in later grades
The provincial education department says consultations have taken place with union representatives, principals’ associations, WCED officials and senior foundation phase teachers who expressed support for the intervention.
Foundation phase teachers will participate in an online webinar on Monday 12 July 2022 in which they will be taken through the intervention before it is implemented. The department called on all teachers to play their part in the effort to claw back the learning losses due to the pandemic.
