Students won't be able to attend lectures, this was what was announced in the President's latest 'family meeting'. The country has now been placed on adjusted level 4 of lockdown.
On Sunday evening, President Ramaphosa said the following:
Contact classes at tertiary institutions will end by Wednesday, the 30th of June, with limited access to the institutions.
This regulation would mean that online studying would be in place for students with many doing it since last year.
Students will however be allowed to stay at their residences.
According to the latest government gazette for Level 4, it says that those in Cabinet responsible for higher education will decide when these institutions will be re-opened.
Some Universities were in the middle of exams with some students having to write these exams in lecture halls on campus. This will of course have to be changed with the University of Cape Town announcing that all exams will continue but those done on campus will have to be postponed.
Many Universities will be announcing these kinds of changes for students.
The Careers Portal spoke to a Stellenbosch University student not only about how the latest regulations have impacted her, but lockdown in general, saying:
As a student, we need contact with other students as well. Yes, it's all fun and games. You at home, you can work on your own time and you in your own comfortable space but as a student, it affected a person's mental health.
Peer to peer support is not only helpful for working together academically but as this student says, "You need to see that you are not the only one going through things and that everybody is in the same struggle".
Some people work better when having a lecturer in front of them and having a whole year of online studying was a huge jump, she says.
Home also presents various distractions and your work being disrupted by your home environment. This presents a problem to students who have hours of work needing to be done with only themselves to face it.
The varsity did the best they could under the circumstances but some of the videos and stuff is not as helpful as it would've been if it was in class.
Even though Universities made platforms available to student should they need further assistance, she explained, "it wasn't the same value so a lot of people had to adapt to self-studying and I don't think a lot of people could do that".
The Minister of Higher Education is expected to hold a briefing further detailing the measures being taken in higher education institutions.
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