The coronavirus pandemic has thrown the inequalities in SA’s higher education sector into sharp relief, with students attending Technical Vocational and Educational Training (TVET) colleges reporting far greater disruption to learning than their counterparts at historically wealthier institutions, according to a survey by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC).
Less than 40% of students attending TVET colleges reported their institutions provided online learning during SA’s first lockdown, imposed by the government in response to the country's Covid-19 outbreak in March 2020. By contrast, 80% of university students said they were offered online tuition when their institutions were forced to stop in-person teaching.
The survey included more than 13,100 respondents aged between 18 and 35 and was conducted between 18 June and 18 September 2020, coinciding with SA’s first wave of coronavirus infections. The majority of students (84%) were under the age of 25, and there was an equal split between men and women.
TVET colleges have historically been attended by students from poorer households and many of these colleges have fewer resources at their disposal than better endowed universities.
A greater proportion of TVET students reported being given financial support to travel home during the lockdown or get refunds on fees and accommodation than students attending private colleges, universities, or universities of technology, or other post-school education institutions. But TVET students got far less support for virtual learning, be it the provision of free data bundles, data-free platforms for online learning, or the provision of laptops and tablets. Only 8% of TVET students reported receiving data bundles, compared with 85% of respondents attending university.
“TVET colleges do worse on almost every indicator,” said HSRC specialist researcher Sibusiso Sifunda. “What comes through very clearly is that TVET institutions had no systems in place to communicate or provide updates to their students,” he said.
The survey highlighted extensive food insecurity among students, with 40% of respondents reporting they did not have enough money for food during lockdown. Many students who were compelled to return home had previously had better access to food, via state-funded catered accommodation.
Two-fifths of the respondents said they returned home because of the Covid-19 outbreak, and 37.5% said they had been living at home anyway. A relatively small proportion of students (6.7%) said they remained on campus, rented a new place (5.8%) or stayed with family (8.2%) or friends (1.2%).
Only half the students said they had a suitable space to study during lockdown.
Forty-two percent of respondents said loss of social contact with family and friends was one of their main challenges during lockdown.
The survey found a high rate (37.5%) of severe psychological distress among 18-19 year-olds, reflecting the challenges they faced navigating the pandemic before they had adjusted to post-school education, said Sifunda.
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