A National Digital Teaching & Learning Platform is on the way. This was announced during a live public lecture webinar hosted by Higher Health's CEO, Dr Ramneek Ahluwalia.
Joined by guests like Professor Salim Abdool Karim, Prof Ahmed Bawa and
Dr Michelle Groom, the lecture put a spotlight on Covid-19 and its impact on the post-schooling sector.
Professor Bawa, CEO of Universities South Africa said Covid-19 has forced universities to focus on multi-modal learning.
He remained concerned that while some universities have been able to make the switch to online learning, some students are still being left behind because of structural inequalities.
This was seen during the first wave of Covid-19, as students at different colleges and universities took to social media to share their stories as they struggled to access learning materials and support from their institutions.
Bawa said the country's class structure played itself out in instances like this. With the threat of the third wave growing, there's a need to fix class inequities faced by students.
“We have to move towards a more social justice approach towards higher education...some students have easy access and others don’t.”
“Universities have all taken a massive financial blow and I think that we're still at the beginning of the journey of trying to address the issue of sustainability” he said.
The launch of the new National Digital Teaching & Learning platform is still in talks. It has been confirmed that the platform will be made available for all students to access, as government aims to address the effects of Covid-19 on the post-schooling sector.
