NYAKALLO TEFU

THE Department of Basic Education is concerned about the high-rate of school dropout projections anticipated for 2020 following the outbreak of the coronavirus earlier this year.

The school dropout projections were presented to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Basic Education by DBE Deputy Minister Reginah Mhaule and Director-General Mathanzima Mweli.

The presentation by basic education department showed projected dropouts in KwaZulu Natal, by far the largest province in the country in terms of numbers, could be around 38 541 children in Grade 7 and 18 708 in Grade 12.

Limpopo has the lowest projections on dropouts, sitting at 87 for Grade 7 and 60 for Grade 12. 

The Western Cape has a projected percentage dropout rate of between 5 and 15% for Grade 7.

This would be between 4 600 and 13 900 of its 90 000 pupils in Grade 7.

 The department said it was especially concerned about KwaZulu Natal where they project dropouts.

As much as the figures are alarming, Mweli said that this does not necessarily mean that all these children are not getting an education.

“What we usually encourage provinces to do is to take the numbers of those who attend school, and then link it to the numbers of those who are at home, with comorbidities who are doing virtual learning, and those at home for home education and then the variation between all those then gives you a sense of the projection of the dropout rate,” said Mweli.

According to Equal Education’s Co-Head of Research, Roné McFarlane, many parents are worried about the spread of the virus.

“Parent members in the Western Cape shared their concerns about their children’s safety from Covid-19, especially in schools where basic safety measures were not in place,” says McFarlane.

McFarlane says: “Before Covid-19 we were already faced with a situation where over the years 2014 to 2018, around 50 per cent of all 22 to 25-year-olds didn’t have a matric qualification.”

While many learners are happy to be back at school, they are bracing themselves for heavy workloads.

“The pressure is especially acute for matric learners, some of whom we know have dropped out as a result,” explains McFarlane.

“It is crucial that government launches a concerted effort to contact learners who are at risk of dropping out and encourage them to return to school or continue learning from home with the support of the school.”

(COMPILED BY INSIDE EDUCATION STAFF)

Over 60% of unemployed young people in South Africa have dropped out of school without a matric pass or certificate, according to a revised draft of the National Youth Policy 2020-2030.

The revised draft youth policy has also shown that a driving factor in the unemployability of most of the youth in South Africa was that millions left school without obtaining a matric certificate.

Spearheaded by the Presidency-based Ministry for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, the draft NYP was intended to determine interventions needed for youth over the next decade.

“Large numbers of learners are dropping out of secondary school without obtaining the National Senior Certificate or Grade 12, a Further Education and Training or Adult Based Education and Training certificate,” read the published draft.

“About 60% of South Africa’s youth have either left school before matric or have failed their matric exam, and are left without any kind of recognised educational qualification. Over time only a small proportion complete Grade 12 and pursue post-secondary education and training to acquire intermediary and professional skills.

“In 2011, only 31% of young people completed their matric,” it said.

According to the draft report, South Africa’s high rate of youth unemployment is largely attributed to the skills shortage in this age group.

In 2011, only 31 percent of young people completed their matric (Grade 12) education.

The 2013 General Household Survey estimates that 983 698 students were enrolled at higher education institutions (universities and universities of technology) in 2013.

Almost two-thirds (66.4 percent) of these students were black, 22.3 percent were white; 6.7 percent were coloured and 4.7 percent were Indian or Asian.

According to the New Growth Path, the main challenges hampering young people from meaningfully participating in the mainstream economy are joblessness, poverty and inequality.

If not addressed, the socio-economic effects of this situation will be dire, including increased crime, a poorly performing economy, extreme joblessness and poverty, and increased potential for political instability.

Against this backdrop, the NYP 2020 places employment creation at the centre of all youth development interventions.

The draft NYP said just about 52% of 24-year-olds in South Africa have completed Grade 12 to date, which was “low compared to 70% in most developing countries”.

It stressed that a multifaceted approach was needed to reach out to the millions without the matric certificate.

“These large numbers of young people who exited the education system prematurely possess no professional or technical skills, making them effectively unemployable, hence about 60% of unemployed youth aged below 35 years have never worked.

“Without a targeted intervention, they will remain excluded from the economy,” said the NYP.

It said while the basic education system should reduce drop-out rates, interventions were needed to provide the matricless with skills and a “second chance” to pass matric.

“Diverse skills training opportunities and financial support for young people with low scholarly abilities and from low and middle-income households is needed,” said the NYP.

The matric-less youth should be drawn to matric second chance programmes and supported, it said.

“The Department of Basic Education, in partnership with private providers, should support learners who need a second chance to pass matric. Matric rewrite projects should be supported and publicised so that young people are aware that they can obtain qualifications through community colleges and adult education training centres. The Department of Higher Education and Training should provide young people who have left school with the opportunity to complete their education to enable them to compete in the open labour market.”

(COMPILED INSIDE EDUCATION STAFF)

STUDENTS on the path toward dropping out of high school often exhibit signals that they are at risk well before they stop engaging in school. As school closures due to COVID-19 separate students from structured routines and educational supports, the number of disengaged students may continue to grow.

Educators should be aware of and look for signs of disengagement and act to maximize engagement and supports for at-risk students during COVID-19 closures.

While all this is especially challenging to educators working remotely, Preventing Dropout in Secondary Schools, a report published by the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education, provides recommendations for educators that we have adapted for the circumstances of the COVID crisis.

What can educators do now and throughout the summer to help prevent students from dropping out?

Monitor student engagement

During a typical academic year, educators can use routinely collected data to monitor student performance on three indicators predictive of dropping out: attendance, poor behavior, and failing grades.

With data from these indicators, schools and districts can offer personalized support for those who need it.

Educators can use pre-COVID-19 data to identify students who were at-risk of dropping out before the pandemic and deliver personalized supports to help students overcome their current challenges.

Unfortunately, the pandemic is likely to introduce significant new challenges for still more youth, prompting a need to continue capturing data that can help educators identify and connect with students who disengage from school or otherwise fall off track during this time.

While closures may hamper schools’ ability to collect some types of data, educators can collect data aligned with indicators that evidence suggests will predict high risk of dropping out and use those data to identify and reach out to students who may need additional support.

Build trusted relationships

Developmental research finds that the presence of a caring, trusted adult in the life of a child contributes to engagement in school and resilience in the face of adverse circumstances.

Further, such relationships are most consequential for marginalized youth.

Strengthening bonds with students—and forging connections with those signaling they are on the path to dropout—is particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Until schools re-open, pay attention, open lines of communication, and demonstrate care for students.

The proactive monitoring and engagement efforts described here will position educators to target intensive services on those who need it most when we construct our new normal.

Do not wait until school resumes to make more purposeful attempts to engage students. The following ideas, based on examples from the dropout prevention literature, can help educators connect with and reengage youth.

1. Let students know they matter, they are missed, and support is available

• Send a personalized text or make a personal call—reach out to let students know you are concerned about their well-being. Consider using leading questions to assess their situation, such as:
  • How are you feeling?
  • How is your family adjusting?
  • Are there home responsibilities that are interfering with your learning (for example, caring for siblings or other family members, working a job, etc.)?
  • Do you need anything?
  • What can I do to help you?
  • Use creative, informal modes of outreach—students who struggle in school may have difficulty dealing with traditional models of schooling. Consider nonthreatening strategies to engage with students, such as:

• Dropping off a care package with a personal note with an invitation to connect.
• Using social media to communicate with students in a venue in which they are comfortable.
• Setting up regular check-in calls with students and families, or groups of students, and be prepared to suggest topics that will interest participants ready for discussion.

2. Address potential barriers to student engagement

• Consider students’ home situation—layoffs and social distancing may introduce economic and personal stressors that manifest poor school engagement. Where possible, offer information to help students and their families cope with challenges introduced by COVID-19, for example:
  • Provide information on school meal distribution points.
  • Identify school counselors or therapists who may provide psychological support.
  • Connect families to community groups that provide social services (e.g., YMCA, Boys & Girls Club, faith-based groups, etc.).
• Assess students’ home learning environments—determine the root cause of student disengagement. Poor attendance, behavior, or bad grades might be due to external factors. Ask about students’:
  • Access to Wi-Fi and computers.
  • Ability to access hard-copy packets.
  • Configuration of their home learning space (i.e., do they have a quiet place to work?).
• Provide personalized instructional supports—students may struggle to engage in online instruction or be afraid to engage in a public discussion. Take steps to customize instruction to individual student needs, for example by:
  • Offering one-on-one tutoring using a videoconferencing platform to share screens.
  • Structuring assignments to address known learning challenges.
  • Assigning work related to a student’s specific area of interest (e.g., cars, gardening).
  • Identifying students dealing with similar challenges and, if appropriate, engaging them in a supportive group chat so they feel less alone.

3. Engage students in their learning community

• Create innovative approaches to motivate student participation—online instruction of complex academic topics can be daunting and dull. Find ways to excite students to participate. Potential strategies could include:
  • Theme-based instruction organized around sports, the arts, current events, pop culture, career exploration, or anything that sparks student interest. Hold a discussion of a book or consider a graphic novel for reluctant readers, such as March about the Civil Rights Movement, Nimona about a shape-shifting girl who wants to be the sidekick of a supervillain, or even Animal Farm: The Graphic Novel.For a twist, consider discussing a podcast your students would find interesting such as Story Corps, This American Life, Stuff You Should Know, or The Moth.
  • Have students write and share pandemic-inspired poetry during an open mic virtual poetry slam.
  • Join a watch party of a movie (rated PG or lower) and share a laugh while discussing literary themes.
  • Invite mystery guest speakers to join virtual class sessions and provide clues to their identity leading up to the big reveal when you meet online.

(SOURCE: The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is the statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education)

THE COVID-19 pandemic has caused the largest school closures and education disruption in history, with more than 1.5 billion students affected at the height of the crisis.

Over 767 million of these students were girls.

Now, another major challenge is looming. Over 11 million girls – from pre-primary to tertiary education – may not return to school in 2020.

This alarming number not only threatens decades of progress made towards gender equality, but also puts girls around the world at risk of adolescent pregnancy, early and forced marriage, and violence. For many girls, school is more than just a key to a better future. It’s a lifeline.

This is why UNESCO and members of the Global Education Coalition’s Gender Flagship are launching a new #LearningNeverStops campaign focusing on ‘keeping girls in the picture.’

The campaign calls for efforts to safeguard progress made on girls’ education, ensure girls’ learning continuity during school closures, and promote girls’ safe return to school once these reopen.

It also sheds light on the 130 million girls who were already out of school before the pandemic, and calls on the international community to urgently work together to guarantee their right to education.

It’s time to turn the crisis into an opportunity to build back equal.

The new #LearningNeverStops multilingual campaign features a signature launch video, engaging social media assets, practical toolkits for radio and youth-led organizations as well as a Girls back to school guide for partners to engage audiences and stakeholders everywhere.

Youth activists and community radios are being mobilized at the local level to access hard to reach communities to reach.

Local and regional influencers, experts, education professionals and champions for girls’ and women’s rights have also committed to amplifying campaign messages and spread knowledge through their respective networks.

Powerful human-interest stories from girls around the world will also be featured throughout this extended campaign. A wealth of knowledge and resources on girls’ and women’s education are also available on the campaign landing page.

UNESCO is encouraging everyone to join the campaign and use their voices to ensure that #LearningNeverStops for girls everywhere.

(SOURCE: UNESCO)