Image: Thulani Mbele
After nearly 11 weeks, 90% of children are still not allowed to go to school or see their friends and family outside their homes as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown — compromising their education, welfare and mental health.
The ongoing school closures are not in the best interests of children, say researchers at the Stellenbosch University department of economics, Prof Servaas van der Berg and Dr Nic Spaull.
Based on the government’s current plans, by the end of term 2 (August 7), grade 7 and 12 children will miss only 25% of normal school days, but their grade 4, 5, 8 and 9 peers will miss 57% of scheduled school days up to that date.
“By August 7 2020, at least four million children will have missed more than half (57%) of the number of school days that are normally scheduled up to this point. Teachers will not be able to complete the entire remaining curriculum in the limited time available. Inequality is likely to increase since poorer learners and schools are least able to catch up. International research on the cumulative effects of learning losses and subsequent income losses indicate that many of the losses in both learning and income are long term in nature and can be measured five years after the event.”
Calculating the risk of death from Covid-19 ranges from a 1-in-76,878 chance (0.001%) for those aged 0-19 years, the researchers argue that “the relatively low mortality risk from the virus needs to be contrasted to the significant additional mortality risk from acute malnutrition and associated mortality in children (especially pneumonia, diarrhoea and HIV/Aids) arising from the lockdown”.