COVID-19 Impact on Students Report Released

By: Sthulile Mdletshe

Higher Education Minister, Blade Nzimande, says it will be hard for everyone to pick up the pieces and move on from the trauma of COVID-19.

Nzimande has been delivering a keynote address following a report on the impact of COVID-19 on students, conducted by the South African Human Science Research Council (SAHSRC)

With the looming third wave, the minister says this pandemic is generating the traumatic effect that will be visible in 10 to 20 years from now.

He has called for higher learning institutions to provide support to students.

According the report where a total of 13 119 students were interviewed, it revealed that TVET colleges didn’t receive adequate resources to study from home compared to universities.

SAHSRC’s Professor Sibusiso Sifunda says during the hard lockdown students had to do the most with little support and it also revealed that 66% without data said it was difficult to communicate with their institutions.

In this survey students between the age of 18 and 38 were interviewed and it was conducted between June and September 2020.

Sifunda says remote learning was a nightmare for TVET college students as they had no access to the internet compared to universities as well as private colleges.