Thousands of pupils, including beginners, are ditching traditional schools in favour of online classes this year as concerns persist about health and safety during the Covid pandemic.
The switch to virtual schooling follows the basic education department’s publication of a draft virtual schools framework that will regulate online schools.
The framework is intended to help those planning to open virtual schools “on how to establish and register quality and effective schools”, according to the document.
The number of new pupils in grades R, 1, 2 and 3 at Teneo Online School is up 22% to 670 this year and enrolment across all grades is expected to increase to 10,000 from 8,000.
The University of Cape Town Online High School, which opens this month, received more than 9,000 applications.
Teneo’s annual fees for pupils is R25,620, while UCT pupils will pay R25,140.
Fees at Curro Online range from R47,040 for grades 4-7 to R54,000 for grades 10-11, while an 18-month junior high qualification for 12- to 14-year-olds at St Stithians Online School costs R128,700.
Fees for grade 10 and 11 pupils at traditional schools such as Pretoria Boys’ High school, are R61,150.
Rishal Maharaj enrolled his six-year-old son, Saurav, in Grade 1 at Teneo this year after he completed Grade R there last year. His elder son, Aarav, 10, who will be in Grade 4, has been studying online since September 2020 when the institution started virtual schooling for grades R, 1, 2 and 3.
Jan 12: Schools reopen in Gauteng, Free State, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West
Jan 19: Schools reopen elsewhere
— BACK TO SCHOOL
He withdrew Aarav from a private school in Benoni, Ekurhuleni, in mid-2020 after Covid disruptions.
“During the lockdown, he would just get worksheets at the private school and we had to sit with him, complete it and submit it to the school,” said Maharaj.
“I wasn’t too happy with that and we also weren’t keen on sending him back to school because of the virus.”
Teneo provides live interactive classes from 8am to 12.30pm. “Having been online when he was in Grade 3 last year, he was able to create presentations such as speeches using PowerPoint,” said Maharaj.
His sons’ inability to physically socialise with other pupils is his main concern. “I think Aarav would need to get into some kind of social club after school but so far he’s OK,” he said.
“Saurav was enrolled in Grade R last year and obviously lost the first-day experience at a bricks-and-mortar school with friends, but my wife monitors and assists him. He’s actually coped very well.”
Aarav said he loves online school: “The teachers teach me very well and I make a lot of friends.”
Ayesha Saeed enrolled her nine-year-old daughter Zoya Rashid in Grade 4 at Swales Online Academy last year because she was concerned about safety at a government school.
“Initially she was scared and intimidated because it was a different type of schooling sitting in front of a computer, but the teachers were wonderful,” said Saeed. Zoya, who previously attended school in Pakistan, scored 78% in Afrikaans and received distinctions in five other subjects.
10-million: The number of textbooks downloaded from the Siyavula free site
5,000: The enrolment target for the first year of UCT Online High School
— IN NUMBERS
Karen Wucherpfennig, enrolments manager at Teneo, said parents were signing up because “they need to know that their children will receive a full and uninterrupted academic year.
“Another huge concern is kidnappings ... At least their children will be safe at home.”
Romina Passos, foundation phase leader at Teneo, said students need a laptop, camera, microphone and internet access. They are given time at the start of lessons “to greet and interact” with their friends while waiting for everyone to log on.
Lauren Jacquin, business head at Swales Online Academy, said mainstream schools were often too big to allow for individual attention, with typical textbook/whiteboard teaching resulting in pupils “becoming passive absorbers of the curriculum”.
UCT spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala said the education sector doesn’t have the means to build enough schools or train enough teachers to educate the “youth bulge” through traditional schooling alone.
“We have to embrace education technologies if we want any hope of providing sufficient access points to quality schooling.”
Shabalala said UCT has various scholarships and was establishing a series of blended-learning micro schools throughout the country, based on a successful pilot in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town.
Curro spokesperson Mari Lategan said Curro Online, which opened in June 2020, enabled the group to make quality education accessible to more pupils.
‘The genie is out of the bottle and there’s no shoving him back in after the pandemic. Covid-19 has accelerated the online learning trend that was already gathering momentum,’ says Robert Paddock of Valenture Institute, which offers online schooling via partnerships with education institutions, including St Stithians and UCT. The group secured a R105m investment from GSV Ventures, a global venture capital fund in September 2021.
— 'NO GOING BACK'
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