Western Cape learners slowly recovering from Covid disruption

The Western Cape education system is steadily regaining ground lost during the pandemic, with improved pass rates for all the grades assessed in its 2023 systemic tests. 

Western Cape is the only province to administer these tests, which it has done every year since 2002, with the exception of 2020 when schooling was severely disrupted due to Covid-19. In 2021 the test results showed that the loss of face-to-face teaching time during the pandemic resulted in profound learning losses and reversed years of steady progress.

While pass rates  have yet to recover to pre-Covid levels, the fact that the biggest improvement has taken place in the foundation phase, which covers grades 1 to 3, suggests the provincial education department’s targeted support for the early years of school is bearing fruit. The department set aside extra time for reading and maths during the school day in the foundation phase in mid 2022, and last year expanded its “back on track” programme to higher grades.

“The foundation phase was the most severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, with significant decreases in pass rates in the annual tests. This is why our department has made this phase a priority, as children who fall behind in these early grades will struggle to catch up later in their school career,” said Western Cape education MEC David Maynier.

The results of the 2023 systemic tests, administered in October, show the pass rate for grade 3 maths improved 4.3 percentage points to 51.6% compared to 47.3% the year before. In 2019, before Covid struck, the pass rate for grade 3 maths was 58.1%.

For grade 3 language, the pass rate improved 4 percentage points to 42.5%, compared to 38.5% in 2022. The pass rate for grade 3 language was 44.9% in 2019.

Unlike matric exams which have variable pass rates, the pass rate for all the Western Cape systemic tests is 50%. They are written by just under a quarter of the province’s learners, and help the education department and schools monitor learning outcomes.

The pass rate for grade 6 maths improved from 39.4% to 40.4% between 2022 and 2023, while that for grade 6 language improved from 36.1% to 37.5%. In grade 9, the pass rate for maths improved from 18.8% to 20.5%, while the grade 9 language rate improved from 50.2% to 51.6% 

The intermittent school closures imposed by the government in response to Covid saw pupils lose an estimated 155 school days in 2020 and 2021, equivalent to three-quarters of a school year. In a study published in 2022, researchers estimated that most pupils were a year behind the level they would have been if not for the pandemic.

These learning losses not only knocked the performance of children sitting the Western Cape systemic tests, but also saw SA’s performance dip in the 2021 International Reading and Literacy Study, which found 81% of grade 4 learners could not read for meaning, compared to 78% in the 2016 assessments.

kahnt@businesslive.co.za