Principals, teachers rally to help matrics

MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Schooling has been distrupted throughout South Africa because of the lockdown.

Although there are concerns for all learners, it is matrics who must be foremost of high school principals' minds.

The Mossel Bay Advertiser spoke to four high school principals to find out how schools had adapted to ensure matrics, who are losing out on one-on-one teaching, get through the year and are adequately prepared for their final exams.

The learners who are the most challenged by the lockdown are those who are poor because either they do not have smartphones and WhatsApp, or they don't have money to buy data, so they cannot be part of learning WhatsApp groups with their teachers and classmates. Because of the lockdown and social distancing rules, they cannot meet with other learners either.

Great Brak Secondary School principal Desmond Speelman said: "This is a challenge. Our teachers are stressed. Our children did not do that well in the first term and now the curriculum has been interrupted. There are many rumours about what will be done. One thing that is clear is that the school day will be longer.

"The children won't go home before 15:00. If the Education Department wants to make the school day longer, we will have to abide with that, but we won't want the children to burn out. We don't want to put too much pressure on them.

"We must motivate the children so they fall in with what is decided by the department, which will give us a broad framework, which the school will have to adapt further."

Speelman said work was being sent to all Grade 12 learners who were able to receive it on their phones.

David Groenewald.

No mobile data
"We have children at our school from Friemersheim, Hoogekraal, Powertown, Sonskynvallei and Jonkersberg. They are the poorest of the poor. They have no mobile data. How do we reach our children? Our challenges differ from the schools in town [Mossel Bay]."

Besides this, Speelman deals with the heartache of his learners being hungry. When the Mossel Bay Advertiser spoke to him he had just finished distributing food to children as part of the school nutrition programme.

His concern over the hungry children in his school was extremely evident. He said he perceived the huge impact on children of the current poor economy. "Today there was a parent and child waiting in the queue, whom I never dreamt I would see standing in a row to get food."

In these dire circumstances, he noted: "It is extremely difficult to prioritise things and work ahead."

Principal David Groenewald, of Sao Bras High School in Mossel Bay, said: "We set up a WhatsApp group with our matrics. The teachers send work for them to do.

"It's difficult because some children do not have tablets or laptops, or they don't have data.

"It's a challenge. Some children live in two- or three-room houses. These are not ideal learning conditions for children.

"Our teachers are really busy."

Adolf Gouws

Difficult to control
Groenewald noted that this remote learning situation was difficult to control and the school had to make provision for the learners.

"No Grade 12 should be at a disadvantage."

He said that when children returned to school some of the teachers would teach for a longer school day and perhaps there would be Saturday classes.

He also mentioned the plan - not yet confirmed - to shorten the June school holiday.

Groenewald said it had also been mooted that the Grade 12 exams would be postponed. "It depends on when school begins again. We can't afford that the children lose a school year.

"The Grade 12s and their parents are terribly worried." He said he received WhatsApps from parents, voicing their anxiety.

Ivan Kroneberg, the principal of Hillcrest Secondary School in Mossel Bay, said: "Currently we have WhatsApp groups for maths, science, the languages and maths literacy.

Echoing the other school heads' predicament, he said: "Unfortunately not everyone is on a WhatsApp group. Some learners don't have access to smartphones or they don't have data.

"With the languages, the learners are busy with their literacy books, their poetry and drama."

He said that with physical science, questions as well as videos, were being sent out to the matrics. This was the only way possible for the children. He said it did not work to use Youtube or emails because the parents did not have access to email.

Kroneberg noted: "We don't want to progress too far and then leave the underprivileged children behind."

Ivan Kroneberg

Old exam papers
He said the matrics were also working on old exam papers and worksheets, sent to them. "Then they go through the correct answers together."

Kroneberg mentioned the proposal by the teachers' unions that the return to school by learners be staggered, that the grades 12 and 7 learners return to school first, then the grades 11 and 6, and so forth, step by step. It is thought a decision on the dates for the return to school will be made by the Education Department this week.

Point High School principal Adolf Gouws said: "We started a supporters' group. In the first week of the school holiday, we began immediately with using Telegram, the e-learning programme. We are also using Google Classroom.

"There are different e-learning programmes, but 80% of our children are on Telegram. We've done this for all our learners, not only the matrics. This was instituted by our teachers. We sent a roster out to the children. Basically, daily, they have been at their books from 08:00 until 13:00 during the holiday and lockdown.

"We are giving more attention to the matrics and going to extra effort with them. Assessment is taking place online and matrics' work is marked.

Gouws said: "The unions have made certain proposals. The Education minister is assessing them. It's been suggested the June holiday be reduced to a week and we only get one day's holiday in October."

Ivan Kroneberg. Photos: Linda Sparg