Education in emergencies: Lessons from COVID-19 in South Africa

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization upgraded the outbreak of COVID-19 to pandemic status. On 15 March 2020, the South African president declared a national state of disaster under the Disaster Management Act of 2002. On 26 March 2020, national lockdown, which included measures stipulated in guidelines for education in emergencies, was implemented in South Africa. The presidential declaration and subsequent lockdown came at a time when some of the universities in South Africa were already struggling either to commence the academic year, or to make up for time lost due to persistent student protests relating to several student demands. However, disaster management now entailed that all schools and institutions of higher education were forced to close immediately for extended periods, necessitating alternative ways of ensuring access to education. The qualitative case study presented in this article sought to document the intervention strategies developed by two universities located in remote parts of Eastern Cape Province to deliver education during the COVID-19 restrictions. A second aim was an examination of the challenges experienced by the two institutions’ largely rural student population. The authors collected data using a questionnaire completed by 15 educators and 30 students from the two universities. They also analysed official communications documents from the universities addressed to lecturers and students. The results indicate that access to online teaching and learning platforms and resources for students from poor rural communities in South Africa is challenging, and that there are gross inequalities in educational outcomes for learners from different socio-economic backgrounds. This affects the future plans of higher education institutions to provide teaching and learning through online-based platforms. The authors conclude their article by providing recommendations to support online learning in rural areas, which has the potential to expand higher education access post-COVID-19.