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27 June 2023 | Story Department of Communication and Marketing | Photo Charl Devenish
Dr Abraham Matamanda and Prof Lochner Marais
UFS researchers, Dr Abraham R Matamanda, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography, and Prof Lochner Marais, Head of the UFS Centre for Development Support, collaborated with researchers in the UK and Brazil on a study on the impact of COVID-19 on children and young people. The study is part of the international PANEX-Youth research project.

Researchers from South Africa, the UK, and Brazil recently conducted a study on the impact of COVID-19 on children and young people, particularly those from disadvantaged households. Their research highlights that the pandemic has deepened existing inequalities, with children and young people’s voices and needs not being considered in policy decisions.

The study conducted by researchers from the University of the Free State (UFS) and the University of Fort Hare in South Africa; the University College London, the University of Birmingham, and Nottingham Trent University in the UK; and the University of São Paulo in Brazil, found that pandemic policy decisions largely ignored young people’s needs, resulting in long-term losses.

Educational inequalities

The report, titled International and National Overviews of the impact of COVID-19 on Education, Food and Play/Leisure and Related Adaptations, outlines how slow government action and policy gaps in efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 have had a negative impact on children and young people’s health and welfare.

South Africa has been one of the countries hardest hit by COVID-19, and the study shows that due to social isolation and economic disruption caused by lockdowns, children and young people’s education has been stunted, their access to nutritious food has been reduced, and their ability to develop socially through play has been significantly restricted. The impact was worst for those living in disadvantaged poor households.

The study, which is part of the first stage of the PANEX-Youth research project, is divided into two volumes: the ‘Long Report’, highlighting the wider impact of the pandemic on children across the world, while the ‘Short Report’ drills down on the impact on three countries, namely the UK, South Africa, and Brazil.

Further insights from the study show that the digital divide has compounded educational inequalities as education has moved online during the pandemic, with households and regions with insufficient internet access falling behind. Collectively, and combined with the continuing cost-of-living crisis, the researchers believe that these disadvantages are likely to have detrimental consequences for children and young people in the short and long term, with many not yet visible.

Future pandemic planning

The team – which includes UFS researchers, Dr Abraham R Matamanda, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography, and Prof Lochner Marais, Head of the UFS Centre for Development Support – expects that policy gaps during the pandemic will negatively impact young people’s professional life trajectories, healthy lifestyles, mental well-being, educational opportunities, and self-confidence.

The team put together five recommendations to ensure that children’s well-being is incorporated into any future pandemic planning. These suggestions include:

  • The need to keep children and young people at the centre of pandemic preparedness efforts.
  • More priority and attention given to the hidden voices and experiences of young people, and particularly those from monetary poor households.
  • Greater recognition that schools play an important, central role as life and care hubs.
  • Greater recognition of play and leisure as rights that are fundamental to children and young people’s development.
  • More structured and systemic responses to multiple dimensions of risk from local and national responses are recommended, based on a rigorous assessment of what worked and failed during the pandemic.

Adapting in the post-pandemic period

Prof Lauren Andres, Professor of Planning and Urban Transformations at the University College London – also the lead author of the report – said: “COVID-19 exposed and exacerbated inequalities that already existed prior to the pandemic. Children and young people’s voices and needs were not heard and accounted for. Our research shows that because of policy gaps and slow government action during the pandemic, disadvantaged children and young people are now facing serious consequences that could be with them for a long time, both here in the UK and around the world.”

According to Dr Matamanda, “The COVID-19 pandemic showed the lack of understanding of what children and young people need in their daily lives. During the pandemic, the rights of children and young people, especially play/leisure, accessing adequate food and education, seemed to be overlooked or least prioritised. This was evident from the slow and inconsistent COVID-19 government policies and strategies that failed to acknowledge the networks and value chains through which children and young people are supported. In this way, our research shows the gaps and inequalities created and widened among children and young people in South Africa, especially those from disadvantaged households who have now been left behind and are grappling to adapt in the post-pandemic period.”

Read the full report here: https://panexyouth.com/

News Archive

Third NRF A-rated researcher for UFS
2017-02-03

Description: Prof Jansen, NRF A-rated researcher  Tags: Prof Jansen, NRF A-rated researcher

Prof Jonathan Jansen, senior researcher at the UFS
Faculty of Education, recently joined two other
UFS researchers as NRF A-rated researchers.
They from the left are: Profs Melanie Walker, Maxim Finkelstein
and Jansen.
Photo: Charl Devenish

The University of the Free State received its third A-rating from the National Research Foundation (NRF) when Prof Jonathan Jansen was awarded an A2-rating.

Prof Jansen is a Senior Research Professor in Education secondary research field and field of specialisation: Development education and Curriculum theory at the UFS Faculty of Education and Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies at Stanford University in the US.

Prof Jansen’s rating follows P-rating
Prof Jansen’s rating also adds to the recent P-rating awarded to Dr Daniel Spence, a postdoctoral Research Fellow at the International Studies Group. In receiving the rating, the UFS became the only university in South Africa with a P-rated researcher in History.

P-ratings are given to young researchers, usually under the age of 35, who have the potential to become leaders in their field. Researchers in this group are recognised by all, or the overwhelming majority of, reviewers, as having demonstrated the potential to become future international leaders. 

“Obtaining another A-rating is indicative of the university’s drive to enhance its research profile – nationally as well as internationally. I am thankful to our scholars for their commitment to the rating process and look forward to receive the results of this year’s ratings,” said Prof Corli Witthuhn, Vice-Rector: Research at the UFS.   

Total number of researchers increased
The UFS has also upped the ante with regards to its total number of NRF-rated researchers during the latest rating and evaluation with an increase from 127 in 2015 to 149 rated researchers in 2016.

In 2015, Prof Maxim Finkelstein from the Department of Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science, and Prof Melanie Walker, Senior Research Professor and Director of the Centre for Research on Higher Education and Development, were given A-ratings.

Prof Finkelstein’s rating then made him the only A-rated researcher in ‘Probability and Statistics’ regarding Mathematical Sciences in the country. Prof Walker was evaluated and graded in the division for Research, Innovation Support and Advancement.

According to the NRF, A-rated researchers are “unequivocally recognised by their peers as leading international scholars in their field for the high quality and impact of their recent research outputs”.

 

The rating of individuals is based primarily on the quality and impact of their research over the past eight years.

 

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