[Publication] Estimating the COVID-19 Help Offering Retention Training (COHORT19) Group Transitioning into Higher Education from South African Basic Education

Members

Herkulaas Combrink, Vukosi Marivate, Benjami Rosman

Abstract

COVID-19 strengthened and exacerbated challenges within the South African basic education system in terms of the already present digital divide. As a result, there were learners that did not receive the required technological support in their basic education due to a lack of infrastructure or other related challenges. On the other hand, advances in educational technology that occurred within South African higher education institutions since 2020, enabled remote teaching and placed a stronger emphasis on blended learning. Therefore, higher education institutions advanced while the gap between access to learning and technological uptake among students impacted by this divide widened. We classified the learners that fall within this category as the COVID-19 Help Offering Retention Training group (COHORT-19). Currently there is no information about the anticipated number of learners that will enter higher education most affected by this. In this paper, we argue for what the estimated number of COHORT-19 learners are in South Africa and provide the estimated learner to teacher ration per quintile school for South Africa. Based on these findings, we recommend areas that require intervention to highlight the problems related to COHORT-19 learners.

Publications

• H. Combrink, V. Marivate, B. Rosman. Estimating the COVID-19 Help Offering Retention Training (COHORT19) Group Transitioning into Higher Education from South African Basic Education, * African Journal in Education & Transformation, 2022. [higher education] <> [Paper URL]