School closures in South Africa

Dates of school closures in South Africa

President Cyril Ramaphosa on the 23rd of July 2020 announced that school closures will take place for another month. As announced, public schools will be closed from 27 July to 24 August aside from:

• Grade 12 learners will return on 3 August.
• Grade 7 learners will return on 10 August.

Since then, the government has gazetted these dates in line with the announcement. These are visible on the government’s revised school calendar. 

Many parents are concerned that school closures will cause their children to have knowledge gaps. Parents with children in grade 9 may be concerned that their children do not have the adequate grounding to choose subjects for grade 10. On the other hand, parents with children in grade 11 may be concerned that their children are not covering sufficient content. This can cause grade 11 learners to be unprepared for their grade 12 year next year. 

In addition to this, South Africa is considered to be one of the worst-performing countries with regards to Mathematics. Learners still battle with their understanding of and performance in mathematics despite efforts to improve these statistics. As schools across the country close, it begs the question: How are school closures going to affect performance in important subjects like mathematics?

Learners can stay on top of their maths during school closures

Fortunately, there are online resources available to learners through websites like Advantage Learn. Accessing Maths Online through Advantage Learn will give learners in grade 8-12 access to mathematics resources including:

1. Mathematics lessons covering the entire CAPS curriculum that can be purchased on a month to month basis.
2. Online worksheets and quizzes.
3. Access to online tutors and support to bolster your learning online.

Since you can’t go to your teachers, let the teachers come to you in the form of recorded lessons and online tutors who are available to answer questions whenever you are stuck. Have a look at Maths Online here.