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Yes, adults are struggling to cope with the stress of COVID-19 and the resulting constraints. But it appears the virus is having an equally devastating influence on another group of people.
The ongoing COVID 19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on the lives of youngsters, according to Statistics South Africa‘s (StatSA) 2020 General Household Survey.
Released on 2 December 2021, the survey points out that COVID-19 has had a distinct impact on the nature of childcare arrangements for children aged 0–4 years in 2020.
According to the survey, the percentage of children attending Grade R, Pre-school, Nursery school, Crèche, and Educare centres declined from 36,8% in 2019 to 24,2% in 2020. However, during the same period, the percentage of children who stayed at home with a parent, guardian, other adults, or children climbed from 57.8% to 67.2%.
Additionally, in 2020, a substantially higher percentage of children aged five and six did not attend educational institutions compared to 2019.
“Five-year-olds who did not attend educational institutions increased from 10,9% in 2019 to 37,7% in 2020. For six-year-olds, the percentage increased from 3,5% to 11,8%. Although enrolment in education remained relatively high, a comparison with 2019 shows that a slightly higher percentage of children in older age groups were not attending school.”
Even though COVID-19 resulted in numerous schools temporarily closing, StatsSA discovered that very few students aged 7 to 18 attended schools that offered remote or home school alternatives to contact classes. “The survey shows that only 6,4% of learners could access remote or home school alternatives nationally.”
However, it is worth noting that the percentage of people aged 20 and up who have no education has decreased from 11,4% in 2002 to 2,9% in 2020. An impressive achievement for the country. During the same time, recipients of a grade 12 qualification climbed from 30,5% to 50,1%.
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