Staff Reporter
Free State Education MEC Tate Makgoe is this morning expected to form part of a high-level panel that will draw up parameters for assessing key grades in primary schools in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“. . . as part of our focus to support primary schools, I will form part of the departmental experts to moderate the primary school based assessment for Grades 3, 6 and 7,” Makgoe wrote on Twitter to announce the crucial exercise.
“COVID-19 has disrupted learning programmes in our schools. The initiative aims to assess the learning losses for 2020,” he added.
The event will take place at Heidedal Primary School from 9am.
Schooling across the country has been disrupted since mid-March after the government ordered all schools closed ahead of the national lockdown in a bid to contain the spread of the acute respiratory disease.
This resulted in schools with adequate facilities resorting to online teaching to ensure learners don’t fall behind.
But less-equipped schools with learners coming from poorer communities could not afford this, resulting in most children falling behind.
Some education experts have said while remote learning could have helped learners to keep up with their school work, the closing of schools could have a far-reaching effect on them.
According to the experts, the closing of schools forced children to forego classroom instruction and socialising with peers, which is believed to help them learn and develop better academically.