Abstract:

Online education is not in favour of the poor, as is observable in data that revealed that 258 million children in sub-Saharan Africa were not attending school, and that the pandemic had prevented 826 million students from being able to receive an education due to the nature of forced digital learning as many impoverished families do not have access to a computer or home Internet. The rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus caused economies to suffer, overburdened healthcare systems, and altered the way in which education needed to be delivered. The education sector has changed drastically, and with the inevitable expansion of online education, this new model is now considered to be sufficient for securing the continuity of education during similar situations that may arise in future. With this being said, online education is only accessible by the privileged in Africa and in the rest of the world, hindering the glamorous goal that was developed during the Pan-African High-level Conference on Education, of ensuring that every child receives an education by 2030; potentially another failed Millennium Development Goal. Children in Africa are among the poorest in the world, and regardless of what statistics show, COVID-19 also contributed to an increase in child abuse, gender-based violence and recruitment of children as soldiers. In addition, connectivity is not cheap in Africa, and the poor tech availability and daily power outages where educational television is used, left many disadvantaged African children without any hope for an education.

Two sets of open-ended questionnaires were used to gain insight and to confirm that one size does not fit all when it comes to online learning. One set of questionnaires was distributed amongst police and community representatives in the Western Cape who reported a rise in violence and crime when children were supposed to be seated in digital classrooms, but were instead discovered wandering the streets. The other set of questionnaires was distributed amongst Western Cape teachers to illustrate that no provisions were made, to accommodate the less fortunate, when the decision to turn to online learning was made. The researcher used a convenience sample to recruit respondents for this study.

The results suggested that one size does not fit all and that a multimodal approach should be considered. These findings also exhibit that COVID-19 caused an increase in child abuse cases among the poor, an increase in crime during lockdown, as well as hindering teachers' efforts toward distributing classwork, homework, and bread to learners. These findings are as a result of policy holders’ failure to include poor people in their decision-making processes; disregarding those with no Internet, electricity, or sufficient technological devices.

To conclude, just as there are huge vaccine drives, there should be massive drives around the world to ensure that every child can receive an education during future pandemics. The researcher recommends mandating school time for children from poor households, as well as providing each child with a homework pack that will include a form of digital recording device that can facilitate classwork, homework, and student-teacher interaction.

Keywords:

online education, sub-Saharan Africa, poverty, Internet, South Africa, multimodal approach