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COVID-19: The impact on the education system

22 April 2020 | Story Prof Thidziambi Phendla. | Photo Supplied

Prof Phendla UFS_read more — Prof Thidziambi Phendla.

The Hollywood movie, Contagion, acutely reminded me of the impact of COVID-19 on our education our education system. The many parallels between this movie and what is unfolding worldwide today in unbelievable. Nine years ago, who would have predicted that the world would find itself right in the middle of the plot and enacting the scenes in Contagion?

There is growing concern about our education system with many asking whether the school year is ruined.

For some it may be ruined and for others less so. Parents for disadvantaged communities do not have the means, knowledge and resources to support their children’s learning during the lockdown whereas those from more advantaged communities may access information on Department of Basic Education (DBE) and other websites to support home schooling during these times. For those who did not have these opportunities the loss of school time may thus have a much greater impact.

Embracing homeschooling
However, the school calendar year may equally be extended to early next year. In any event, we already have a system that allows for aggrotats, supplementary exams that runs into the new year, each year. The academic year can be aligned to close accommodate the lost time.

This is the right time for parents to embrace homeschooling of their children. UNESCO’s “COVID-19 Education response” provides a list of educational applications, platforms and resources aims to help parents, teachers, schools and school administrators facilitate student learning and provide psychosocial support during periods of school closure. Most of the solutions are free and many cater to multiple languages. The lists are categorised based on distance learning needs and most of them offer functionalities across multiple categories (https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse/solutions).

On the one hand, for the majority of learners and students in South Africa, especially from impoverished communities, distance learning will pose a great challenge. Majority of these communities have less access to digital devices and online solutions. The DBE should work with the SABC and consider opening a free 24 hours learning channel, as a platform to provide further support to distance learning and teaching. Radio remains the cheapest and most effective means for this

On the other hand, the situation is different with some private or IEB schools. Most learners from these schools are already trained to use distance learning platforms. For example, during this lockdown, my 13year old niece starts her school day at 07:30 every day without fail. The school uses several strategies including the Microsoft Teams to support teaching and learning. Each learner has a laptop, completes home-work, assignments and write open book tests. In this scenario, at least 80% of efficient learning and teaching occurs. The difference between the two scenarios is a matter of inequalities, equity and poverty which still prevalent in South Africa.

An unequal school system
For many years the slogan was: “Liberation first then education” maybe it is time for “life and health first”. Even in the most difficult times people have found a way to learn – think of those on Robin Island in the apartheid years. We should imitate their example and not wait for the government to provide. Maybe libraries are an essential function that should remain open in these times.

Protracted student protests in South Africa over the past few years gave universities an opportunity to explore online education as an alternative to contact teaching and learning, and have put them in a better position to deal with current shutdowns necessitated by the need to contain COVID-19.

The pandemic exposed the glaring inequalities, equity and poverty that continues to exist, in particular, in education systems and country in general. Those who have the latitude to remain indoors and maintain the social distancing are the middle and upper classes of our society. These groups have access to data to support online educational programs, while the poor barely survive to put food on their tables.

For many years the world was expecting a virus that could spread globally (e.g. the swine flu) but nothing was done. With the myriad of challenges facing, including downgrading to a junk state, funds depleted through corruption at various levels, our country could not be at a worse position than now.

Lessons from the lockdown
One lessons from the lockdown has exposed the failures and shortcomings of not only our education system, but also the entire ecosystem. Huge inequalities still exist in education systems across the globe. Universities are grappling with a myriad of problems including teaching online. The COVID-19 pandemic forced campuses to shut down and move many functions like graduation, examinations, conferences and other collaborations to the back. Another positive outcome of the pandemic is the sense of unity it created among political, cultural, religious and social organisations in South Africa and across the globe. Consequently, the most important lesson is that lives matter more than education.

As our president, Cyril Ramaphosa said, “We are currently in unchartered territory, which we have never had to navigate before”. It is therefore, very difficult to forecast the full degree of the short-, medium- or long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education system. The longer the virus remains, the greater and more permanent changes may be. Certain things will probably change forever. Not only will our conception of going to office to work alter, but also our whole conceptualization of what a university is will change. We will probably see universities becoming more and virtual and operated from a highly decentralized basis.

Prof Thidziambi Phendla is currently manager of Work Integrated Learning at the University of the Free State. She is the Founder and Director of Domestic Worker Advocacy Forum (DWAF); and The Study Clinic Surrogate Supervision; Chair of Council: Tshwane North TVET College (Ministerial appointment).

News Archive

Inaugural lecture: Prof Robert Bragg, Dept. of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology

2006-05-17

Attending the inaugural lecture were in front from the left Prof Robert Bragg (lecturer at the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology) and Frederick Fourie (Rector and Vice-Chancellor). At the back from the left were Prof James du Preez (Departmental Chairperson: Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology) and Prof Herman van Schalkwyk (Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences). Photo: Stephen Collett

A summary of an inaugural lecture delivered by Prof Robert Bragg at the University of the Free State:

CONTROL OF INFECTIOUS AVIAN DISEASES – LESSONS FOR MAN?

Prof Robert R Bragg
Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology
University of the Free State

“Many of the lessons learnt in disease control in poultry will have application on human medicine,” said Prof Robert Bragg, lecturer at the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology during his inaugural lecture.

Prof Bragg said the development of vaccines remains the main stay of disease control in humans as well as in avian species. Disease control can not rely on vaccination alone and other disease-control options must be examined.

“With the increasing problems of antibiotic resistance, the use of disinfection and bio security are becoming more important,” he said.

“Avian influenza (AI) is an example of a disease which can spread from birds to humans. Hopefully this virus will not develop human to human transmission,” said Prof Bragg.

According to Prof Bragg, South Africa is not on the migration route of water birds, which are the main transmitters of AI. “This makes South Africa one of the countries less likely to get the disease,” he said.

If the AI virus does develop human to human transmission, it could make the 1918 flu pandemic pale into insignificance. During the 1918 flu pandemic, the virus had a mortality rate of only 3%, yet more than 50 million people died.

Although the AI virus has not developed human-to-human transmission, all human cases have been related to direct contact with infected birds. The mortality rate in humans who have contracted this virus is 67%.

“Apart from the obvious fears for the human population, this virus is a very serious poultry pathogen and can cause 100% mortality in poultry populations. Poultry meat and egg production is the staple protein source in most countries around the world. The virus is currently devastating the poultry industry world-wide,” said Prof Bragg.

Prof Bragg’s research activities on avian diseases started off with the investigation of diseases in poultry. “The average life cycle of a broiler chicken is 42 days. After this short time, they are slaughtered. As a result of the short generation time in poultry, one can observe changes in microbial populations as a result of the use of vaccines, antibiotics and disinfectants,” said Prof Bragg.

“Much of my research effort has been directed towards the control of infectious coryza in layers, which is caused by the bacterium Avibacterium paragallinarum. This disease is a type of sinusitis in the layer chickens and can cause a drop in egg product of up to 40%,” said Prof Bragg.

The vaccines used around the world in an attempt to control this disease are all inactivated vaccines. One of the most important points is the selection of the correct strains of the bacterium to use in the vaccine.

Prof Bragg established that in South Africa, there are four different serovars of the bacterium and one of these, the serovar C-3 strain, was believed to be unique to Southern Africa. He also recently discovered this serovar for the first time in Israel, thus indicating that this serovar might have a wider distribution than originally believed.

Vaccines used in this country did not contain this serovar. Prof Bragg established that the long term use of vaccines not containing the local South African strain resulted in a shift in the population distribution of the pathogen.

Prof Bragg’s research activities also include disease control in parrots and pigeons. “One of the main research projects in my group is on the disease in parrots caused by the circovirus Beak and Feather Disease virus. This virus causes serious problems in the parrot breeding industry in this country. This virus is also threatening the highly endangered and endemic Cape Parrot,” said Prof Bragg.

Prof Bragg’s research group is currently working on the development of a DNA vaccine which will assist in the control of the disease, not only in the parrot breeding industry, but also to help the highly endangered Cape Parrot in its battle for survival.

“Not all of our research efforts are directed towards infectious coryza or the Beak and Feather Disease virus. One of my Masters students is currently investigating the cell receptors involved in the binding of Newcastle Disease virus to cancerous cells and normal cells of humans. This work will also eventually lead to a possible treatment of cancer in humans and will assist with the development of a recombinant vaccine for Newcastle disease virus,” said Prof Bragg.

We are also currently investigating an “unknown” virus which causes disease problems in poultry in the Western Cape,” said Prof Bragg.

“Although disinfection has been extensively used in the poultry industry, it has only been done at the pre-placement stage. In other words, disinfectants are used before the birds are placed into the house. Once the birds are placed, all use of disinfectants stops,” said Prof Bragg.

“Disinfection and bio security can be seen as the ‘Cinderella’ of disease control in poultry. This is also true for human medicine. One just has to look at the high numbers of people who die from hospital-acquired infections to realise that disinfection is not a concept which is really clear in human health care,” said Prof Bragg.

Much research has been done in the control of diseases through vaccination and through the use of antibiotics. “These pillars of disease control are, however, starting to crumble and more effort is needed on disinfection and bio security,” said Prof Bragg.

Prof Bragg has been working in close co-operation with a chemical manufacturing company in Stellenbosch to develop a unique disinfectant which his highly effective yet not toxic to the birds.

As a result of this unique product, he has developed the continual disinfection program for use in poultry. In this program the disinfectant is used throughout the production cycle of the birds. It is also used to ensure that there is excellent pre-placement disinfection.

“The program is extensively used for the control of infectious diseases in the parrot-breeding industry in South Africa and the product has been registered in 15 countries around the world with registration in the USA in the final process,” said Prof Bragg.

“Although the problem of plasmid mediated resistance to disinfectants is starting to rear its ugly head, this has allowed for the opening of a new research field which my group will hopefully exploit in the near future,” he said.

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