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Learning and institutional support for youth in higher education institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa
Get PDFAs higher education institutions (HEIs) moved from in-person to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, various challenges were presented. Using a large online survey conducted during the pandemic, this paper investigates the impact of COVID-19 on learning and institutional support offered to students in HEIs in South Africa. The study utilized a closed-ended questionnaire on a data-free online platform. The study sample included South African youth aged 18-35 years who were enrolled for some type of educational training or in higher education institutions (including private colleges). Data was benchmarked to the 2019 estimates of the youth population in educational institutions. Descriptive statistics are presented. Among the 7011 student participants, the main challenges experienced during lockdown were loss of study time (57.9%), insufficient money for essential personal items for studying (55.8%), loss of social contact (42.2%) and insufficient money for food (40.1%). Overall, 47.0% of students reported having free access to the internet, 49.5% used personal internet or paid for internet access and 3.5% indicated having no access to internet. The majority rated their institution's eLearning portal as good or excellent, and 23.4% thought their eLearning portal was of poor quality. Significantly fewer (38.1%) technical and vocational education and training (TVET) college students indicated that their institution provided the capacity to conduct virtual learning compared to those enrolled at other types of institutions. Almost two thirds of students (66.2%) from TVET colleges experienced difficulty in communicating with their institutions. Half of the students (49.9%) reported that they had a suitable place to study during lockdown, while 78.6% had regular access to electricity during lockdown. Significantly more TVET and University of Technology students received transport to return home and fee refunds. While it was encouraging that most HEIs had capacity for online learning and made provision of internet access for students, it was concerning that students who are enrolled at TVET colleges faced more learning challenges during the lockdown. This highlights the inequality in learning support at different types of institutions, and that effective support from HEIs to students during the COVID-19 pandemic was not fully implemented.
A gendered lens on food and nutrition security in South Africa: extracts from the National Food and Nutrition Security Survey
Get PDFPaper presented at the Policy Dialogue on Data for Gender Equality with the United Nations Women (UN Women), European Union (EU) and the Statistics South Africa, 10-11 OctoberN/
Democracy and elections: comparative analysis of countries in Central Africa and West Africa
Get PDFThe objective of the study done for this article was to do a comparative analysis of democracy and electoral processes in six African countries. The research results show that Cape Verde, Senegal, and Ghana are more advanced in terms of democracy and electoral process than the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Gabon. Further, a comparative analysis of democratic indices shows that Cape Verde is the best example of democracy and electoral processes. The article encourages the remaining countries to emulate the model of Cape Verde to improve their level of democracy as their economic development depends on this.
Challenges in the prevention and management of adolescent pregnancy and school dropout by adolescent mothers in South Africa
No full textOwing to the social, economic, health, educational and psychological implications of adolescent pregnancy, there had been many attempts to stop this phenomenon. These efforts, however, do not seem to be succeeding given its acceleration, generally in South Africa. The schooling of many adolescent girls gets disturbed by their pregnancy and others discontinue with schooling postpartum. This exacerbates South Africa's challenges of unemployment, poverty, intergenerational illiteracy, and general societal vulnerability. The Pregnant Learner Management Policy contributed to the dropout rates as it prohibited adolescent mothers from returning to school
before they had spent two years with their babies. It has since been replaced with the National Policy on the Prevention and Management of Learner Pregnancy in Schools, but reintegration remains a challenge. The pregnancy and reintegration challenges are aggravated by institutional, social, economic, cultural, and religious barriers. The pregnancies are due to several factors such as poor and inconsistent uptake of contraceptives, and inadequate parental involvement and guidance on the sexual and reproductive health education of the adolescents. The study used qualitative research techniques to delve deeper into the adolescent pregnancy and
school dropout phenomenon; research participants were sampled from the three provinces with the highest number of births that were delivered by adolescents, namely KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, and Eastern Cape.
National Food and Nutrition Security Survey: Mpumalanga Province report
Get PDFThis report is based on the empirical evidence collected from selected Small Area Layers (SALs) within the five districts of Mpumalanga province. SAL is the smallest geographical unit usually allocated to a single enumerator during census enumeration. In other words, it constitutes a small piece of land for an enumerator to cover to administer a questionnaire during a census or study (Statistics South Africa). Each of the SALs in this survey had 35 visiting points (households). The results provide a baseline assessment of the status quo of food and nutrition security in the province. The data was collected during COVID-19 lockdown around September-October 2021. This greatly influenced and changed the picture from what would ordinarily obtain under a normal situation. The project benefited from the valuable insights and input of the advisory board that provided comments and reviewed the research reports. Albeit they cannot be held accountable for errors or omissions that may exist in the report. Whilst this research project has benefited from the valuable insights and input of a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) that provided comments and reviewed the final research report, the ultimate responsibility for the contents therein (including but not limited to unintentional errors, inaccuracies, or omissions) rests
with the authors and researchers involved. Users of this research should exercise their judgment and discretion when interpreting the findings and recommendations presented herein.
Healthcare provider perceptions on the implementation of the universal test-and-treat policy in South Africa: a qualitative inquiry
No full textSouth Africa had an estimated 7.5 million people living with HIV (PLHIV), accounting for approximately
20% of the 38.4 million PLHIV globally in 2021. In 2015, the World Health Organization recommended the universal test and treat (UTT) intervention which was implemented in South Africa in September 2016. Evidence shows that UTT implementation faces challenges in terms of human resources capacity or infrastructure. We aim to explore healthcare providers (HCPs)' perspectives on the implementation of the UTT strategy in uThukela District Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal province.
The sixth South African national HIV prevalence, incidence, and behaviour survey (SABSSM VI): 20 years of strategic HIV and public health data
No full textPaper presented at the SABSSM VI Communication and Dissemination Working Group, 7 NovemberN/
Prospective follow-up of adolescents with and at risk for depression: protocol and methods of the Identifying Depression Early in Adolescence Risk Stratified Cohort (IDEA-RiSCo) longitudinal assessments
No full textTo present the protocol and methods for the prospective longitudinal assessments including clinical and digital phenotyping approaches of the Identifying Depression Early in Adolescence Risk Stratified Cohort (IDEA-RiSCo) study, which comprises Brazilian adolescents stratified at baseline by risk of developing depression or presence of depression.
Ntsikana: his great hymn and his enduring legacy on black consiousness
No full textNtsikana's quest for blackness was neither moulded nor fuelled by anti -white bias. His silent advocacy of black consciousness was not a reaction to the imperial enemy, who happened to be white. He did not perceive himself as black because the colonial enemy was pale. He did not project his African face because the enemy was European. His understanding of his own spiritual identity seemed to be independent of who the political adversaries were. His black African consciousness was not tailored to the political opportunism of the time but emerged spontaneously out of the depth of his African soul. It was not a binary conflict of black versus white.It would be fair to say that Ntsikana's black consciousness was untainted by hatred towards the white race or European civilisation. His opposition was to the oppressive nature of white colonial rule, which in his view threatened to alienate his beloved African people from their African identity, their independence, and their land. His symbolic importance influenced both isiXhosa music and literature, inspired the founding of religious movements, and contributed to a wider black unity and nationalism during the early 20th century.N/