Primary school teachers at government schools in Benoni and Actonville, Gauteng,have gone beyond the call of dutyto ensurethe class of 2020 have been protected, educated and well-nourisheddespite the threats of the covid-19 pandemic.
As an Arbor Primary student raises a victory sign during class, pupils around South Africa celebrate their own victories of receiving an education despite the threat of covid-19, thanks to the endless dedication of primary school teachers. Photo: Niall Higgins
Arriving at the silver gates of Arbor Primary School in Benoni, Gauteng, it isnotdifficult to understand from where the school derives its name and crest:Strong and sturdy oak, elm and ash treesline the perimeter of the lush grounds.
Like the nurturing trees, Arbor’s teachers alsostand tall and strongas they welcome their arriving learnersas if they areprecious seeds of afuturerooted in the grounds of the school.
Thepupils, of grades one to seven,with vividly coloured masks covering their noses, mouths and cheeks,sit metres apart from each other, each in a perfectly demarcated circle. They giggle as they gaze, squinting,at the sun overhead, oblivious to the dangers now lurking in our viral new world.
Actonville Primary School, however, seems a stark contrast to the apparent serenity of Arbor.Here, teacher and covid-19 co-ordinator Zuhra Balle stands at the school’s gates on a crisp Monday morning,takingeachstudent’s temperature and askingimportant questions: “Have you been coughing lately, Allaina? Feeling out of breath today,Tshepo? Had any headaches, Martin? Keep two metres apart, you two!”
The next learner in line for the temperature gunposes a profound questionBalle says she will never forget:“Ma’am, you always ask us all these questions, but why don’tyou ever ask us if we sleep at night?”
The mental and emotional wellbeing of students
Balle tellsWits Vuvuzela that this startling question madeherand other teachers worry that students might besuffering symptoms of depression,due to the effects of the covid-19 lockdown.
An article in health publicationSpotlight,published in April this year, served to underline this warning by noting, “Rather than ‘bouncing back’, children instead incorporate trauma into their growth and future lives.”
“Ma’am, you always ask us all these questions, but why don’t you ever ask us if we sleep at night?”
Balle voices her own concern. “Some of these children lost parents, some lost homes and some were abused, so we as teachers had to do something,”she says.“We are now in the process of counselling over 200 children and we have a psychologist coming on board full time.”
Seeing her students experiencing stress and anxiety left Balle in need of emotional support too: “I myself broke at one point, I had to give it up because I needed counselling myself.”
The headmistress of Actonville Primary School, Venessa Moodley,reveals that she almost lost her life to covid-19 and thereforeunderstands the severityof the pandemic better than most.
Anticipating the impact lockdown would have on her pupils, Moodleycreated a ‘’covidsurvey’’ which was distributed to every student. The survey askedquestions regarding pupils’experiences of illness, anxiety, trauma, violence and poverty.
“This really allowed us to see what was happening to our students beyond the school walls, and to take action by providing aid in any way we could,” says Moodley.
Actonville Primary school students posing in a colourful hallway wearing equally colourful masks. Photo: Niall Higgins
Counselling and care
With these new insights, teachers at Actonville Primary incorporated counselling into the everyday school programme. Grade seven English and creative arts teacher, Rani Chetty, took this course of action to heart.
“I was encouraged to really get to know the kids. Every morning, our teachers will start class with a prayer and then open up the class for a discussion on how they are coping and feeling, just so they know we are a family,” says Chetty.
“I myself broke at one point, I had to give it up because I needed counselling myself.”
Emotional and physical stressare notexclusive to lower–income schools in Actonville.Just to the north,Arbor Primaryhas taken steps to address the trauma experienced by its learners due tothe covid-19 pandemic.
The principal of Arbor, Patrick Arentson, swiftly decided to enlist religious leaders and mental health professionals to aid his pupils.
“We continue to bring in a minister by the name of Basil Panayi to de-brief the children and staff, as well as a psychologist whoworks throughthe students’ emotions and feelings regarding the lockdown,” he said.
Throughout the covid-19 pandemic, teachers watched over pupils to ensure that they not only received a quality education, but also had access to nutritious food and emotional support. Photo: Niall Higgins.
Despite accounts of learners being frightened of having their temperatures taken, Arbor Primary’s head girl, 13-year-old ShadaeFigueira-Parratt,says teachers do everything they can to comfort their pupils.
“My one friend has panic attacks sometimes and we call our teachers, who really help a lot when you’re not doing okay,’’ she says with a smile.‘’One of my friends talks to her teacher about everything she goes through.”
For manyteachers and pupils, the transition to online learning during the lockdown invoked acute anxiety and stress. Schools such as Arbor Primary knew that quick action was essential to preserve the academic year.
Online learning and overcoming data struggles
As a result, the school established WhatsApp groupsand created Google Classroom programmesto relay vital information to itsstudents. Through these platforms, the teachers worked tirelessly to put togethercourse content from scratch.
Arbor’sdeputy headmistress, Wendy Lewis,says educators never stopped working and were ‘‘incredibly innovative’’in the face of lockdown restrictions. “We would use our WhatsApp group and online classrooms to create pre-recorded videos of us re-enacting lessons, in order for students to feel as close to being taught in real life as possible,” she says.
Online learning is not an option for everyonethough,sincedigital divide statistics in South Africa are high.According tobroadband companyCable, the cost of data in South Africa is prohibitive,at an average cost of R106.20 for 1GB.
Additionally, an article in Daily Maverick in July this year stated, “The adverse effects of the [digital] divide are likely to remain a factor in education for the foreseeable future.”
Keeping these statistics in mind, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) did not provideany public primary school with data stipends toaccommodate online learning practices during the lockdown.
This was disappointing forArbor Primary grade four English teacher and head of department Colleen Liebenberg,who saysteaching has now become an expense out of her own pocket.
“Many students and staff battled with access to dataas well as affording it. This meant students would struggle to access video lessons and teachers would sacrifice income to provide classes, because we had to buy data ourselves in order to upload our lessons online,”says Liebenberg.
Arbor Primary students attending class in the school hall. Photo: Niall Higgins.
The creation of “lockdown packs”
Actonville Primary was hit hard by similardata and financialimplications. Despite it beinga proud and dedicated school,many of its students cannot afford internet access or smart devices, due to poverty and socio-economic challenges. The school’s1356 studentsbattletoeven affordthe school fee of R1100 a year.
Despite these disadvantages,Actonvilleeducatorsrose to the occasion wholeheartedlyand began to createcustomised workbooks for theirlearners.
“Actonville teachers became the authors of their own ‘lockdown packs’ and created entirely unique models of learning so that students could continue working from home,” says Moodley.“Our teachers filled the gap by doing whatever was necessary.”
Poppy Benny, subject adviser at the DBE in Ekhuruleni North,says,“We developed resources per subject, which were then shared with teachers online to assist with creating their own learning programmes.”
Arbor’s Lewis says, however, producing these workbookswas necessary but notcheap or easy:“Prepping work for ‘lockdown learners’ has been a huge sacrifice of time and effort, and printing out and delivering course packs at our own expense has been essential to continuing students’ education.”
During the lockdown, many lower-income students from Actonville Primary and beyond were not taught through online classes due to no access to data or internet devices and therefore, relied on customised learning packs created and distributed by teachers. Photo: Niall Higgins.
Changes to the academic year
On top of limited access to class time, months offormal schoolingwere lost due to the lockdown. In response, government schools applied‘curriculum trimming’ as part of their recovery plan by cuttingthe academicsyllabusdown to core learning material.
Subsequently, primary schools will set and moderate their own examination papers this year. Exam marks have, however, been reduced in most cases and class assessment marking will be increased.This does not negate the fact that many students still did not haveany schooling at all during the lockdown, and thereforehave less training under their belts.
“The pressure on teachers to perform and be trustworthy is huge now, more than ever, especially in disadvantaged areas with little to no class time,”says Memory Panayi, head of the language department at Arbor Primary.
Varyingclass schedules also led to difficulties in creating and implementing teaching plans. Some children came in on a bi-weekly basis, whereas some stayedhome. This meant teachers had to teach both formally at schooland by distancefor online students.
“We essentially had two jobs,” says Arbor’sLiebenberg.“We had to constantly restructure the programme, redo each class prep multiple times and then teach the same class over again because, as time got reduced to complete the syllabus, we had to adapt.”
Increased poverty and hungry children
What is more, the academic pitfalls are not the only obstacle. As I stroll through the corridors of Actonville Primary, made colourful with posters, to investigate the unique challenges of ‘‘covid learning’’, an intriguing area catches my eye. It makes me wonder whether academics are, after all,teachers’ only concern.
The smallarea containsbuckets and patches of fertile soil in sunny locations.These are home to a rich variety of carrots, onions, potatoes and other vegetables.
Noticing my curiosity, a grade seven teacher and co-ordinator of Actonville Primary’s feeding scheme, Ellen Buthelezi,speaks with aheavy heart.“There is no way you can teach a child with an empty stomach. During lockdown, there were literally queues of students lining up outside school looking for a decent meal,” she says.
Her comment implies there are manychildren from impoverished families,and for them coming to school means getting something to eat.
Buthelezi senses my sudden gloom and speaks reassuringly. “We currently feed more than 400 students dailyand maintainthese food gardens to keep our children well-nourished,” she says.
According to aStatsSA report posted in July, more than 62.1%, or six out of 10South African children between birth and age 17 lackthe funds fordaily meals.
The DBE normally contributes to food security through the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) by providing meals tomore than nine millionlearners a year.During the lockdown, however, this service came to a halt, leavingmany students hungry.
Grade seven pupils from Actonville Primary tending to one the school’s food gardens. Photo: Niall Higgins.
Food packs and nutrition schemes
Arbor’s Panayi recalls that during the lockdown, teachers were worried about what was happening to kids at home who did not have food. “We went and delivered groceries to familiespersonallyduring lockdown,’’ she says. ‘‘What started as a temporary feeding scheme became a permanent initiative that now feeds more than 40 families.”
When the students finally began returning to school, teachers quickly picked up that they were arriving without lunches. “We then decided to begin an‘adopt–a–child’ scheme by assigning teachers to select and feed students in need,” saysArentson. “Suddenly our teachers began ‘adopting’ more and more children, andthey supplied lunches every single day.”
At Actonville Primary too, learnersexperienced the difference and joy one extra meal could bring to their everyday lives. “In the covid lockdownit’s a struggling time,’’ says grade seven pupil Enock Mateke. ‘‘There wasn’t enough to eat for everyone at school, butnow we get nice food packages that we take home, so no–one is hungry.”
“There is no way you can teach a child with an empty stomach.”
With justified pride, Actonville deputy head girlMicayla Pillay says,“Us grade sevens grew the food garden all by ourselves. We need energy to study, and the fruit we get everyday helps a lot!”
Each school meal adds up to one more child whose future looks a little brighter.
As the school day comes to a close in Gauteng,precious young seedlings are returned to their guardians by caring‘‘gardeners’’who toil long after their stipulated working hours,tired butunbroken.
Onecannot help but wonder: does the nation know that its teachers are true unsung heroes of the covid-19 pandemic?
Hear the voices of this story in the podcast episode below:
FEATURED IMAGE:As an Arbor Primary student raises a victory sign during class, pupils around South Africa celebrate their own victories of receiving an education despite the threat of covid-19, thanks to the endless dedication of primary school teachers. Photo: Niall Higgins
The instability brought about by the covid-19 pandemic has in significant ways compromised the schooling career and academic progress of children with special education needs.
THE SHOW GOES ON: With most learners back in the classroom, both children and teachers are forced to adapt to the covid-19 rules. Photo: Akhona Matshoba
The documents pinned neatly to a maroon notice board on the wall behind her form a backdrop that indicates this school principal runs an orderly ship.
Even though our interaction is on a virtual platform and I have only a headshot view of AnsonetteKraucamp, I can tell she is fond of her job. This is evident in the way her eyes light up when she gets excited about a question.Her smile accentuates the wrinkles that have formed around the corners of her eyes.Her passion for her work shows in the way she brushes back her pixie–cut hair when she is frustrated.
Kraucampbecame the principal at Casa do Sol, a special education needs (SEN) school in Randburg, a suburb north of Johannesburg, in April 2020, just weeks after the lockdown due to covid-18 was imposed in South Africa. With a wry smile, she refers to herself as a ‘‘corona baby’’ because of her ill-timed commencement of the position.The school caters to children between the ages of six and 21 years old who have intellectual impairments.
The new normal
In October, more than two months since the last national school closures took place, and with South African schools back in session,Kraucamp boasts about how well she believesher learners are adapting to their ‘‘new normal’’: “They are superstars,” she says. She proudly shows me a small sanitiser bottle attached securely to a lanyard slung around her neck. This bottle, she says, is given to all the senior learners at her school who understand what sanitiser is and how it is to be used.
The return to school in August was, however, not without its challenges. Kraucampnotes that there are some children, especially those with autism, who are still struggling to adjust. She sayssome kids are having trouble with wearing a mask. She refers to one of her learners, whom she calls “little Thapelo”, who cannot wear a mask for long periods. She also speaks about another learner who wants to wear only surgical masks and not cloth ones. She saysalthough understanding what each child is comfortable with involves a lot of “trial and error”, operations at the school continue.
CAPTAIN OF THE SHIP: Despite the chaos caused by the covid-19 pandemic, the newly appointed principal aims to lead the school with love and compassion. Photo: Akhona Matshoba.
According to Kraucamp, most of her learners have returned to school and only about 19 out of almost 200 remain at home, because they have life-threatening comorbidities. Their parents have todecide between possibly risking their children’s lives by sending them to school to receive a proper education, or keeping them at home, where they are safe. Choosing the latter means some parents may have to sacrifice their children’s academic progress. One parent faced with this decision is Ronelle Kelly (50) who is Joshua Kelly’s mother. Joshua (17) is a grade nine learner at Casa do Sol who has Down’s syndrome and chronic asthma.
The principal says although learners such as Joshua remain at home, they can still join virtual classes. “Some of the kids [with]comorbidities or lockdown learning will be part of the class via MS teams,” Kraucamp says.
Joshua’s mother says, however, that because she has returned to work, her son misses out on such classes because he is unable to log onto platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom on his own. Instead, she collects her son’s schoolwork from the school every second week. The schoolwork comes in the form of thin, ring–binder books with laminated pages. Inside them are activities like practising the days of the week, reading and comprehension and alsomathematics exercises.
On a warm day nearly two months after schools reopened, Joshua and his mother are seated opposite me in the living room of their home in Albertskroon, a suburb ofRandburg. Ronelle Kelly has long black and gold braids that drape over her shoulders and down her back. She looks tired. I can tell from the redness and the bags beneath her eyes that she does not get much sleep. Joshua, who is seated next to his mother, is twiddling his thumbs and seems uninterested in our conversation. He is dressed in blue sweatpants and a t-shirt that hides a thin gold chain. The chain makes an occasional sparkling appearance whenever he looks up.
“I will never ever tell a parent, you have to bring your child [to school], because if something happens to that child, what then?”
Fearful that her son could contract the coronavirus, Kelly decided to keep him out of school for the remainder of the 2020 academic year. She took this decision in June after South African schools reopened after the first school closure which lasted foralmost three months. Joshua’s mother takes on a stern tone when she tells me, “I tell you, if something happens to my son, that’s the only time you’ll see me lose my head.” Her fear for her son’s life is almost palpable.
Kraucamp says although schools are now considered safe, it is not her place to tell parents what decisions they should take regarding the health of their children. “I will never ever tell a parent, you have to bring your child [to school], because if something happens to that child, what then?”, she says.
The long-lasting effects of covid-19
Speaking to Wits Vuvuzela, Dr Hester Costa, the director of inclusion and special schools at the Gauteng Department of Education, says there are about 1 000 learners who have not returned to SEN schools this year because of severe health conditions. This is even after the second national school closure, which lasted a few weeks. According to the most recent data, has 47 918 children with special education needs enrolled at 149 special schools. Gauteng has 47 918 children with special education needs enrolled at 149 special schools.
Experts say prolonged disruptions of the academic programme will result in negative impacts on children with learning disabilities. This is because consistency and routineare an essential part of learning for children with special education needs.
Kelly says she tries to keep her son academically stimulated. Joshua, with the aid of their helper, Chichila Sylvia Seshibe (43), does some schoolwork every day. She notes, however, that because they do not know what they are doing half the time, Joshua is forgetting a lot of the content he learned at school before the lockdown.
LEARNING ON THE JOB: Parents of learners who continue to learn from home have been forced to improvise and learn how to teach their children. Photo: Akhona Matshoba
After letting out a nervous laugh followed by a heavy sigh, Joshua’s mother tells me, “Iam just teaching him what comes [into] my head, what I think is right.”
I have come to notice that she laughs nervously and lets out a deep sigh whenever she is nervous or feels overwhelmed.She performs this ritual again during my tour of Joshua’s room. She opens his closet and reveals the learning charts she has made to keep him stimulated while at home. One, on the right-hand door of the closet, is a colour chart that helps Joshua remember colours. According to his mother, “Joshua’s memory span is very short.” She has cut square name tags from yellow paper and stuck one under each matching button. The coat buttons are of varying colours and sizes. They each have a thick outer rim and four holes neatly poked in the middle.
On the left-hand door of the closet is a hot-pink A3 poster,untidily created using two A4 pages. Written on one side of this makeshift poster are all the days of the week. Stuck onto the opposite side of the poster are photos of different activities that correspond with Joshua’s weekly schedule. Next to Monday is a photo of children in school uniform sitting in a classroom, writing. Tuesdays are for dance class and Fridays are for sports. Sunday has a picture of a cross on a hill, which symbolises church. These visual charts, according to Kelly, help Joshua remember things better. They are also in line with the activities which medium–functioning children such as Joshua, with intellectual disabilities, do at school
SEN education unravels amid the chaos
Costa, the director of inclusion and special schools in Gauteng, notes that when children returned to school after the extended school closures, teachers noticed clear signs of regression in their academic capability. She says schools “had to start again with the whole process of reintegration into the school”, adding that “everything we would usually do for the first-time entrants, [schools] had to do with all the children”.
Nikki Preston, educationalpsychologist at the Morningside Therapy Centre and the Talk Shop School, tells Wits Vuvuzela that time away from school is bound to lead to regression in certain skills. She says this is because a lot of learning is facilitated through social interaction in classrooms and on the playground. “We have seen a regression in speech development and sensory development,” she says.
Joshua’s mother further complains that her son’s schoolwork lacks logical progression. She says the levels of difficulty between one work pack and the next one make no sense to her, and her confusion often frustrates Joshua.
“there are no textbooks, no resources, no guidelines [for teachers] at SEN schools.”
A lecturer at the Wits School of Education, Dr Tanya Bekker, notes that covid-19 has brought the SEN curriculum’s inadequacyinto sharp focus. She saysbefore the pandemic the gaps in the curriculum were not as “in–your–face”, because teachers found ways to compensate for them. She adds that teachers must individualise the work to cater for each child’s capabilities, and it is impossible to fully transfer that into remote learning resources.
Kraucamp concedesBekker’s point. She saysher school had to develop its own curriculum to fill in the gaps left by the government–prescribed Differentiated Curriculum and Assessment Policy (CAPS). The Differentiated CAPS is an adapted version of the CAPS curriculum taught at mainstream schools.
Bothered either by the rising heatwave in Johannesburg or the education department’s neglect of special education schools,Kraucamp brushes her fringe out of her face. After a long pause, she says that in addition to having an inconsistent curriculum, “there are no textbooks, no resources, no guidelines [for teachers] at SEN schools.” The principal adds that even before the pandemic teachers had to improvise and source their own learning materials. “Sometimes we get ideas on Pinterest [and] we use it in the classrooms.”
Kraucamp goes on to say that lockdown learning really challenged her teachers who were parents themselves. Because teachers must prepare lessons for children on numerous platforms, “lockdown learning is harder work than teaching with a classroom” and, she says, teachersmust often rope in family members to help with other home responsibilities.
The catch-up game
To make up for lost academic time for those who have returned to schools, SEN schools, much like mainstream ones, have been instructed by the Basic Education Department to “trim the fluff” in the curriculum. South African SEN schools are now focusing on core subjects such as numeracy, literacy communication and life orientation.
Costa notes that parents should not worry about their children losing their placement at schools. She says all children in SEN schools will progress to their next level of school next year, and whatever content is not covered in 2020 will be incorporated into the 2021 academic year. “The idea is [that] no child is going to fail,” she says, and the sector aims to recover from the impact of the pandemic by 2022.
The future of children like Joshua, who have severe health challenges, hangs in the balance as there is no certainty when they will return to school. The uncertainty is even greater now, as the possibility of a second wave of coronavirus cases looms.
There is no telling when Joshua will return to school, or if he ever will return. Unless the world’s scientists find a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, Joshua will remain confined to the environment of his home. He will live his life guarded by the high walls of his yard, with his helper as his teacher and his mother as his keeper.
Joshua’s mother is adamant that she has no intention to send Joshua back to school for as long as covid-19 remains a threat to his life. If necessary, she says, she does not mind if Joshua loses his placeat school. “I don’t mind if I have to lose his position during this time. I can rather lose it, but a life I cannot get back.”
FEATURED IMAGE: With most learners back in the classroom, both children and teachers are forced to adapt to the covid-19 rules. Photo: Akhona Matshoba.
The national lockdown caused by the covid-19 pandemic meant that the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) was suspended for the first time since its inception in 1994, leaving millions of learners in South Africa without the security of a daily nutritious meal.
It’s aquiet Wednesday morning at SivelilePrimary School, a state primary school in Meadowlands, Soweto, Gauteng province, South Africa. The silence can be attributed to the classes that are still taking place just before lunch, at 11 am.
As I enter the school gates, the security guard asks, “singakusizanganisisi?”I explain to him my business at the school and he offersme a seat outside the small wooden shed located just inside the entrance to the school. He goes to confirm my meeting with the school principal.
Once the principal has confirmed my visit,head of department (HOD) at Sivelile, Fezeka Tabata, takes me to one of the grade seven classrooms.
What is a nutritious meal?
Itis 11am and learners are about to eat their nutritious meal of the day.Themeal consists of soft porridge for breakfast. Lunch is usually a starch, protein, fruit or vegetable. There are various options for starch: maize meal, rice or samp.
Proteins include milk, pilchards, soya and sugar beans. Vegetables are normally cabbage, pumpkin and a fruit, depending on what is in season.The lunch the learners receive depends on the day of the week.
The needs of each province are kept in mind whenthe decisions on what the learners eat are made. They are then concluded by nutritionists who determine what is nutritious for the learners and what the national food budget is for schools.
The women who cook at the school, and who are also parents to some of the learners, bring large containers of food from the kitchen into one of the grade seven classrooms as they prepare to dish up for the learners.
School feeding schemes provide parents and caregivers the opportunity to work and provide for their families. Photo: Khuleko Siwele.
There is no hall at the school, soall the learners are either dished up for in their respective classrooms, in the corridor or in the kitchen.
On this particular Wednesday, learners are being served rice, canned pilchards and butternut. The rice looks mushy and tastes slightly over–cooked, the canned fish is stewed and has a tangy tomato–like taste, and the boiled butternut has a sweet, natural taste.
The food looks bland at first sight, but it’s true that looks can be deceiving, because for me the food is more flavourful than it appears. I can also tell that these learners are used to the food they are receiving, because of their eagerness to dish up.
“Why are you guys not excited? This is your favourite meal,” remarksTabata. The reason for the students’ lack of excitement seems to be because of the unfamiliar face in their classroom.
As they are about to pray, one of the learners realises I am about to take a picture and shyly looks away.
The lockdownmeant that some of these kidswent without thedaily nutritious meal they depend on for survival,and this is what it still means for approximately two million learners in the country who are still not receiving the meal. No school means no food.
Court victory for the NSNP
In July, the High Court in Pretoria ordered the Department of BasicEducation(DBE) to reinstate the NSNP, after private organisation Equal Education took the department to court.
“a life-saving programme for the poorest–ofthepoor child“
When this order was made,acting deputy judge andpresident of the North Gauteng High CourtSuletPotterill, in her ruling in the case of Equal Education and others v. the department of basic educationand others, highlighted that the NSNP was “a life-saving programme for the poorest–ofthepoor child”.
Learners are not allowed to play outside during break in order to ensure social distancing, but learners make the most out of the little time they get to be outside. Photo: Khuleko Siwele
The National SchoolNutritionProgramme(NSNP) is a national project run by thedepartment of basic education (DBE). Theprogrammepre-lockdown fed over 9 million learners a daily nutritious meal at public schools across the country.Sivelileprimary is one of over 20 000 public schools in the country who depend on the school feeding scheme.
This programme is labelled by Equal Educations researcher Stacey Jacobsas “one of the more successful programmes run by the (DBE)”.
The schools that are targeted fall under quintile one to three public primary and secondary schools and identified special schools in quintiles four and five.These are the poorest schools in the country.
The purpose of a free daily meal
Through the implementation of the NSNP, the DBE aims at a sustainable provisioning of quality food to learners who are threatened by poverty and hunger.This food is to enhance the learning capacity of children while at school by providing a daily nutritious meal, and to encourage school attendance.
“School feeding can improve the consumption of nutritious food by children, if the menu is well designed (by nutrionists) and especially if both breakfast and lunch are delivered at school,” according to the Food Security SA Working Paper Series: #004.
When children are not receiving these meals, they become susceptible to not just illnesses but being exploited, as well as other social injustices faced by children in South Africa that are heightened when learners aren’t in school.
From the mouth of a beneficiary
“Wow, I didn’t know Wits was this big,” says Lawrence Manaka, a matric learnerat JB MatabaneSecondary School, as he gets out of his Uber at Wits Art Museum (WAM) from Ivory Park, where his school is situated.
It’s around 3pm on a Thursday afternoon and Manaka is still in his school uniform, a yellow shirt with a blue tie that has the school’s logo, and khaki pants. We walk into WAM and I offer him a seat on the black couches located in what used to be a busy cafeteria with students, lecturersand visitors stopping by during the day, but is now filled with silence.
Manaka, a beneficiary of the programme, wasn’t one of the learners negatively affected by the programme being stopped in higher levels of the lockdown. In as much as he sometimes eats the food from school,it is not a need for him.
The matric learner gives me a little background information about the area he’s from:“Iam from Ivory park and it’s a very underprivileged community and there are a lot of learners there who depend solely on the meals that they get from school.
‘’When some of my schoolmates come to school, it’s not just them coming to learn – it’s also them coming to get the meal,’’ says Manaka. ‘‘So, when [the country] went into hard lockdown some of the learners faced a huge problem, because now they couldn’t get access to food.”
Manaka tells me about a friend of his who was hit hard by the school feeding scheme being suspended. “I have a friend who would come to my house, and because I know the situation back home, he would get food from my house or my mum would give him [money].
‘’You could tell he really needed the food to get through the day. His situation was extreme to the point where he considered dropping out of school and looking for work rather than being at home hungry. When we went back to school you could tell it became better, because now he can get at least two meals a day,” says Manaka.
Department backtracks on NSNP
In March, after the country recorded its first cases of covid-19, the Minister of BasicEducation, Angie Motshekga, announced that all schools in the country would be closed, which also meant the NSNP would be suspended. More thannine million learners stopped receiving a daily meal at school because of this.
On May 19, day 54 of the national lockdown,Motshekga, in a media statement,publicly announced that pupils in grades seven and 12 would return to school in June, and that the NSNP would resume for all qualifying pupils at the same time.
The minister did not live up to her word when schools finally resumed on June 8, with grade seven and grade 12 being the only grades to receive the meal, saying the department needed more time.
This prompted Equal Education (EE), together with two Limpopo high schools supported by Equal Education Law Centre and SECTION27, to take the DBE and provincial education departments to court on June 12.
The reason for this was the EE believes that the backtracking of the DBE in providing learners with this meal, after promising otherwise, violates learners’ constitutional rights.
“The failure of the DBE and provincial education departments to roll out the NSNP to all qualifying learners, or even to produce a plan or programme for doing so, is a regressive measure that violates learners’ rights to basic nutrition, basic education and equality,” said EqualEducation.
Even if every child has access to education, they cannot learn well if they are hungry. Photo: Khuleko Siwele
Equal Education wanted the judge to declare that all qualifying learners, regardless of whether or not they have resumed classes, must receive a daily meal.
“South Africans are at high risk of micronutrient deficiency, specifically Vitamin A and iron. Lack of Vitamin A impairs the immune system, while lack of iron leads to anaemia, fatigue and dizziness. Hunger and micronutrient deficits are known to impact negatively on school attendance, cognitive capacity and immunity to disease,” says Food Security SA. The NSNP aims to avoid these illnesses, and during a time of covid-19 this is more important than ever.
LehlonoloMagqoki, director of the NSNP for the Gautengdepartmentof education (GDE),in his departmental office at 55 Fox Street, explains that it is not the education department’s responsibility to feed children when they are out of school, and the lockdown facilitated such a time.
“we never offered meals during lockdown level five becausethe grant that comes from national did not allow us“
“We, as the GDE nutrition directorate, offer meals to learners that are at school from Monday to Friday. So, we never offered meals during lockdown level five becausethe grant that comes from national did not allow us to offer meals to learners. We do not offer learners food while they are at home,” says Magqoki.
Child support grant not sufficient
The childsupportgrant (CSG) was ‘topped up’ in May, from R440 to R740, during the lockdown. This has proved to be insufficient because“for millions of households across the country food security was gravely compromised due to the covid-19-necessitated lockdown,” said Equal Education in a statement.
The survey, focusing mainly on that one-third of households fully dependent on grants and calculating the grant income they would qualify for, found that 87% of children would have been in poverty before the topups were introduced.
“The top-ups were indeed much larger than the loss of school meals, but the lockdown took away the certainty of a nutritious meal a day on school days,” NIDS-CRAM wave 1.
Not all learners at JBMatabanesecondaryschool qualify for the CSG. Lawrence Makana who is also a learner member Equal Education says “not all learners are South African citizens some of these learners are at school using permits, meaning they are foreigners. This means they don’t qualify for the social grant.”
The NIDS-CRAM in its recommendation for school meals, recommends that school feeding be extended to provide meals for the weekend during the pandemic. This provision would allow learners to eat during weekends or public holidays when the feeding scheme does not operate.
This is not something the department has not considered. “The only challenge [the DBE] has, and it’s been spoken about for [approximately] five years, is that now we are feeding the learners Monday to Friday, and some of these learners are from child–headed families that do not have food on weekends. The department is looking at means of augmenting meals on weekends with the DSD on how we can help, but currently meals end on weekdays,” says LehlonoloMagqoki, as he eats his breakfast cereal.
According to a court–ordered departmental report, the covid-19 pandemic has prompted the provincial department of Gauteng to change its standard operating procedures in respect of NSNP to prevent and manage the spread of the virus in schools, while providing learners with meals.
FEATURED IMAGE: The suspension of the school nutrition programme in March, left over nine million South African learners deprived of having an opportunity to access food. Photo: Khuleko Siwele
Foundation phase teachers in South Africa have been left reeling after new teaching and learning adjustments, varying from school to school, were made as a consequence of the covid-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown.
Embattled teachers have found themselves under fire in the front line of a unique crisis – andin general they have individually risen to the challenge by finding ways and means to win the battle for the welfare and education of their learners.
“Since the beginning of the lockdown, I always say, ‘I have survived depression’. It was a lot,” said Reabetsoe Motsoaledi,a grade three teacher at SPARK Theresa Park, an independent school in Pretoria North.
Foundation phase teachers, who teach grades R to three, were left on unstable footing after the covid-19 pandemic forced a national lockdown,and closure of primary schools across South Africa, in late March.
“I had submissionsevery day. I found myself crying out of nowhere because I was just so drained. I even lost weight from all the stress. It really put a strain on me,” said Motsoaledi as she sat at a desk in her empty classroom, her face mask pulled down to her chin.
A toll on their mental wellbeing
The South African Federation for Mental Health (SAFMH), a non-governmental organisation that advocates for accessible mental health care, stated in an articlepublished in October:“One in four people will be affected by a mental health disorder at some point in their lives.”
Lloyd Ripley-Evans, a psychologist based in Johannesburg, explained to Wits Vuvuzelathat the covid-19 pandemic would naturally have an impact on an individual’s mental health.
“This [covid-19] has been a prolonged trauma that the world has experienced and it has created so many knock-on effects,” said Ripley-Evans. “Pandemic aside, if somebody is going through something difficult on a personal level, it’s going to affect them in a work space because it can be quite consuming. Their capacity to be present can be impacted.”
Foundation phase teachers are no less at risk than other frontline workers of having their mental wellbeing compromised. According to Ripley-Evans, this could also influence their relationship with their learners.
“I think it has been significantly harder for foundation phase teachers to engage with their students effectively,’’ he said. ‘’Their ability to engage and connect with their students to the same level as before has significantly been impacted.”
Motsoaledi explained that adjusting to a new way of teaching online, at the start of the lockdown,came with some unforeseen anxiety.
“You have to keep in mind that parents are going to be in your video and watching you,” explained Motsoaledi. “Now you get even more nervous because you need to make sure everything is correct and you have to be the teacher that doesn’t make mistakes. But that’s not fair, because teachers do make mistakes.”
“I found myself crying out of nowhere because I was just so drained. I even lost weight from all the stress. It really put a strain on me“
SPARK schools have made use of an online programme, known as AskNelson, throughout the covid-19 pandemic. AskNelson is an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), free of charge to the teachers anddesigned to provide them with immediate emotional support. Teachers can rate how they are feeling on any given day and are put in touch with a local counsellor if they needhelp.
The teachers at SPARK schools are able to use the programme at their own discretion and do not have to disclose its use tothe school, confirmed SPARK Theresa Park assistant principal, Tshegofatso Diale.
Motsoaledi said she had found alternative ways of dealing with her mental health instead of usingthe AskNelson programme. “I have always just tried to be strong and move on. Besides just praying, just talking to someone because we’re all going through the same thing as educators. And venting to family members or partners. I’ve never taken any bigger steps to deal with what I’m going through,” she said.
Although being a foundation phase teacher is demanding, Motsoaledi said she loves her job and teaching is something she has always wanted to do. “I wanted to make a change to a child’s life, to develop a child, to be in the upbringing of that child.I wanted to make a difference,” she addedpositively.
Protecting themselves and their loved ones
Mental health struggleshave not been the only fallout of the covid-19 pandemic experienced by foundation phase teachers in South Africa.
Odel David, a grade R teacher at Shari Crest Primary School in Lenasia, said she found it really tough to balancethe need to stay at home with the demand to be at school, as a substitute teacher, for the grade seven learners.
“It really has been concerning mentally, because at home I am concerned about my family, but being at a government school, you also need to be available to the students. It is stressful when your emotions are weighed like that. You don’t know what’s going to happen and you are just preparing yourself for the worst situation,” said David.
Odel David shows Wits Vuvuzela a photograph of her son, who has a comorbidity and is at risk of serious illness if he contracts the coronavirus. Photo: Laura Hunter.
Shesaidshe felt the pressure to adjust her teaching style to match the demands of an older grade:“Although I am a foundation phase teacher, I still have to fill in that gap. It is rather stressful because I am so used to the foundation phase and now I have to go teach the intermediate phase.”
Before showing Wits Vuvuzela around the dust-laden grounds of Shari Crest Primary School, with its colourful walls and palpable loving atmosphere, David mentioned that after a group of teachers at the school contracted covid-19, she felt pressured to remain at home. She has a 12-year old son who has a comorbidity, and is at high risk of contracting the coronavirus.
“Being a mom of a special needs child, I know it’s very easy for him to contract covid. The beginning [of lockdown] was quite challenging because I wanted to be at home, because of the safety of my son, but then I was also thinking of the safety of my learners. It was better for us to be away from one another,” said a torn David.
Navigating the digital divide
At Vuleka St Marks, an independent church school of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa in Randburg, teachers and learners have their hands sanitised and temperatures checked before making their way past the modest church and onto theplayground.
Before the teachers of Vuleka St Marksreturned to school,they faced another challenge brought on by the covid-19 pandemic – trying to successfully teach learners online while some learners had little to no access to the internet at home.
Danielle Lang, a grade one teacher at Vuleka St Marks, said her biggest fear was the effect the pandemic had on the learners’ access to information, and whether the sudden interruption would cause them to fall behind.
Danielle Lang sits at her desk marking her learners’ work. Lang noticed that some of her learners’ reading and writing skills had declined over the lockdown period. Photo: Laura Hunter.
“We moved to [Microsoft] Teams in April, but we first started with ClassDojo (an online learning platform) and sent out slides. It was difficult because many kids at our school are underprivileged, so they don’t have access to any computers or phones,” she said.
Lang reminds us that the covid-19 pandemic has accentuated the digital divide in South Africa.The latest General Household Survey by Stats SA, published in 2018, stated that onlyan alarming 10.4% of households in South Africa have access to the internet at home.
“I had two kids who had no access to Teams and their parents don’t have any smart devices. That was the biggest difficulty, because those kids didnot get any information for about two months,” explained Lang.
As soon as she was allowed to go back to the school, Lang printed resource packs for the children who did not have access to schoolwork during the lockdown. And since some of her learners had not been able to practise reading and writing every day, Lang noticed they had indeed fallen behind.
“There was a huge decrease in understanding, especially with writing and reading.That was very difficult,”she said.
Candice Barrett, a grade two teacher at Parkdene Primary School, a public school in Boksburg, said her primary concern, at the start of the lockdown, was also if her learners would have access to schoolwork while trying to learn at home.
“At first it was quite a concern because we had to adjust to a new way of teaching. The kids as well. Some didn’t have internet access or data because of the financial strains caused by covid,” explained Barrett.“We did have a platform for parents to download the work but, because of data struggles, we weren’t sure the kids were going to do the work or if the parents could assist them.”
Barrett also noted that her learners are too young to use certain online learning platforms.“We didn’t have Whatsapp groups or Zoom because the kids are only eight years old, so it was going to be a challenge to use that,” she said.
Barrett, who had a covid-19 scare after close family members tested positive for the coronavirus, said her other major concern was the physical health and safety of her learners.
“I was concerned about the learners’ health, whether some were going hungry – at school we have a feeding scheme with extra lunches kids can fetch from the kitchen – and if kids were being abused staying with relatives. That’s constantly playing on my mind,because we [the teachers] care so much about them and we don’t know what’s going on,” she said with concern in her voice.
The learners’ desks at Vuleka St Marks are divided by clear plastic shields in order to minimise the spread of the coronavirus. Photo: Laura Hunter.
Addressing demands for extra emotional support
Although the health and safety of learners weighed heavily on theminds of the foundation phase teachers,the covid-19 pandemic has also resulted in learners demanding extra emotional support from them.
David, the grade R teacher from Shari Crest Primary, noticed that some of her learners demanded more of her attention once they had returned.She said it has been tricky to provide them with support, given all the physical restrictions existing in herclassroom.
“Theyhave been seeking that emotional support, especially when it comes to physical contact. Grade Rs love hugging! And I am a teacher who loves to show love back,’’ said David. ‘‘There are certain children I have picked up on that really need that affection. You know they may not be getting that hug at home.”
Lang, whose classroom walls are covered with charmingly scraggy paper portraits, said she also noticed that her learners‘ need for emotional support increased once they returned to school.
“A lot of kids we work with are not getting that emotional support from home. It is very difficult for them, coming to school and wanting to do the same things such as hugging or sharing. When you tell them off, you can see they are very upset about it and don’t understand why. There was a lot of strain on them not being at school and not having that support from me,” Lang said sadly.
Vuleka St Marks has an on-hand social worker, Janet Gibbons, who has worked with all four Vuleka Schools in Johannesburg for nearly six years. When the pandemic hit, Gibbons transitioned her free services online to the learners, teachers and their families.
“You can’t teach a child who is emotionally suffering,” said Gibbons, who believes all learners across South Africa should have access to emotional support services at school.And, she said, theseservices should also be extended to foundation phase teachers.
“So many teachers are being stretched. Teaching is very underrated. Not many people understand that until they are in the classroom teaching,” said Gibbons.
The covid-19 pandemic may havethrown a spanner in the works for foundation phase teachers, but most of them agree this is just the new normal. Andwhether it is dealing with their own mental wellbeing, the physical and emotional safety of their learners or facing issues ofdigital access, the unexpected challenges these teachers have faced have onlybetter equipped them for teaching in the future.
FEATURED IMAGE: The covid-19 pandemic has had overarching consequences on foundation phase teachers, who have had to face many challenges inside and outside the classroom. Photo: Laura Hunter.
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