Proceedings of The 8th International Conference on New Approaches in Education
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Bridging the Academic Gap for the Vulnerable Rural Schools During and After COVID-19 for Sustainable Learning
Lepheana Alice, Mokoena, Matselane Nomshado, Mafojane Molie
ABSTRACT:
The world 2020 to 2022 Covid -19 pandemic affected different sectors worldwide, with the Department of Education hit hard. But still expected to ensure learning and teaching continuity for learners` success. Considerably, learners appeared not coping with new means of learning they had to follow. Those from rural areas were never exposed to connecting online, yet during the pandemic that was the option. This paper therefore views the dilemma of various practices that were implemented especially for the vulnerable rural schools in closing the academic gap. Qualitative research method through open-ended questionnaire was conducted. About 45 usable tools of the 95 distributed amongst education officials, were returned, themes were identified for analysis purposes. Findings indicated that a great deal of knowledge, literacy and numeracy gap still prevails. Teachers need to work harder to bridge the gaps while aligning themselves with the current academic year`s work. For instance, learners appear to grasp much slower, impacting on the scheduled work for the year. Recommendations are; revised schools` operation, pedagogy and transformation to assist learners.
keywords: learning gaps, pandemic, pedagogy, technological resources, transformation