THE IMPACT OF A PANDEMIC ON EDUCATION AND THE OPPORTUNITY TO FAST TRACK TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION IN BASIC EDUCATION IN PREPARATION FOR 4TH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION ERA EMPLOYMENT

The possible effect of a pandemic on education is conceptually addressed in this paper. The arrival of Corona virus (CoVid 19) as one form of such a pandemic in South Africa has exposed and accelerated the trend of growing disparities in basic education system between private and the vast majority of public schools. The advent of lockdown regulations brought by various governments in the world and South African government in particular has accelerated development of e-learning and e-content creation by private education providers. Whereas Face-to -face offerings are still preferred, blended education has increased dramatically with more e-content likely to be the game changer and enabler of the long awaited 4IR relevant education outcome in SA in particular as addressed in this paper. Whilst this development is positive for basic education, the advent of lockdown brought by CoVid 19 pandemic, has also highlighted that the difference in access to technology between poor and rich schools could translate at a basic level to a huge gap in available classroom instruction times which is a fundamental element of the required learning environment. In 2020, South African schooling calendar experienced major disruption due to lockdown regulations however, rich schools were able to mitigate this impact through e-learning platforms, something not possible currently for poor schools. This paper seeks to conceptually establish the unique impact of technology application on the outcome of basic education in South Africa. We make a comparison to the trends of the past 9 years and contrast this with the results of the 2020 school year under CoVid 19 pandemic restrictions. We argue in this paper, that though not the only element of advantage, access to e-learning and e-content can be a big contributor to the difference in performance of high school pupils in basic education. The paper demonstrates that the ability to use technology and e-content creates the major difference between poor and exceptional/resilient education system. We believe that as was demonstrated during lockdown by business and higher learning institutions, creating more access to e-learning platforms material and virtual classrooms for children in remote areas can mitigate against any disruptions due to the macro environment and enhance the ability of the system to transform education from passive learning (teach and absorb type) to an active learning (stimulation based and research type) that is most relevant to the 4IR era. Copyright © 2021 by Naudé Scribante. Permission granted to IAMOT to publish and use.