It is crunch time for the more than 937 000 candidates who registered for the National Senior Certificate (NSC) and Independent Examination Board (IEB) examinations, with the IEB exams already underway and the NSC candidates to start writing on October 31.

Results are expected to be released between January 19 and 21.

The Covid-19 pandemic hit and the national lockdown was implemented when this year’s matriculants were just months into their Grade 10 year, in March 2020. This prompted Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga to last week label the matric class of 2022 ‘the most disadvantaged cohort of learners’

“We are worried because what this class has gone through, no other class has [been] through in the history of the exam. We need to support them in any way we can,” said Basic Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga at a recent media briefing on the state of readiness for the 2022 national examinations.

A 2021 report by the United Nations Children’s Fund on the impact of Covid-19 on education systems across the world, stated learners were between 75% and a full school year behind where they should be. According to the report, sporadic school closures and rotational attendance resulted in a 54% loss of learning time.

Prof Chika Sehoole, the dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria, told Caxton Local Media that the loss of teaching and learning time this year’s matriculants were exposed to, cannot be overcome through accelerated catch-up programmes.

“In many public schools, Grade 10 learners in 2020 were exposed to limited access to teaching and learning as part of the rotation system. This continued into Grade 11 in 2021, and now they are in Grade 12 in 2022. The pandemic has caused severe disruptions to many education systems. As a result, this generation of children could lose $17-trillion in lifetime earnings.”

He says although Covid accelerated the transition to online and hybrid learning, not all schools are able to embrace these opportunities.

“For the well-endowed schools, this could present an opportunity to explore online assessment that can be done remotely. However, as our society is very unequal, with the majority of the people having limited access to quality education, this could be a challenge.”

Linda Shezi, the national general secretary of the South African Principals’ Association, says an impact of the pandemic was the lack of grounding in the Grade 10 year of the Class of 2022.

“The current matrics were only a term in their further education and training phase when we went into hard lockdown in 2020. This means they had only started receiving training in their subjects of choice and specialisation. For various individuals, schools, families and communities, the pandemic impacted differently, depending on the context.”

He added that there has also been a marked increase in anti-social behaviour. “Covid-19 did more damage psycho-socially than we can wrap our minds around. Part of the long-term effect is not on academic knowledge, as this can be sourced from a variety of platforms. The impact on values and attitudes that schooling and education bring will be felt in the long run.”

He says little focus is placed on the mental wellness of learners and teachers dealing with learners who come from various backgrounds, with a variety of challenges. “We must pay more attention to this and offer support. This may be the time to look at what needs to be done to make the system of education sustainable and more in tune with the current times and the future. It’s a case of fixing the vehicle while it is moving.”