Freedom Day: "Build Education Back Better"
Freedom in education at this time in the history of our young democracy: Inequality remains pervasive in the South African education system. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only shown the fault lines, but is deepening them at an alarming rate, and in a manner that may take many more years to undo. In this contribution, based on the emerging findings from our Research Bootcamp, we talk to the need to provide basic rights, as set out in the Freedom Charter, such as health, safety and nutrition, while we cast the net wider to consider aspects of data privacy, online learning and governance.
It is clear that this is the time to be extremely aware about not deepening inequalities. Our findings indicate that online learning is not an option for the majority of our learners, and it is not a quick fix, while it can equally lead to a situation where data privacy is surrendered and not regained. Providing basic rights, as set out in the Freedom Charter, namely health, safety and nutrition, is most critical at this point.
As a community of educational researchers we trust that our findings, across all twelve topics, will assist in the many difficult decisions that need to be made - now, and in the coming months.
To read what our research leaders have said, read Freedom Day: Build Education Back Better here