This is much to the dismay of the Free State Education Department which has come out in defence of the school and vehemently refuted the allegations in a statement. At the centre of the drama lies a widely circulated video by MAP TV, in which it is alleged that learners at the Eastern Free State School are being treated like “slaves”, so much so that they were forced to attend school from 7 am to 5 pm daily during the blanket closure of schools by the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC). Schools nationally only reopened on 26 July as South Africa was moved from lockdown level 4 to 3. Furthermore, the unnamed principal of the school stands accused of flouting coronavirus regulations, with an anonymous student in the video alleging that the school barely screens educators and learners.

The Free State Education Department says in its scathing response to the video that the school has an excess of 200 grade 12 learners and fell behind with the curriculum for the year. A school with that many learners “needs to think out of the box to meet its learners’ academic needs,” says the department. Contrary to reports, parents are according to the department supportive of the school’s efforts in light of its excellent school leaving results – receiving a 99% pass rate from 2018 to 2020.

The story comes after Unicef estimated that South African school learners are between 75 per cent and a full school year behind due to Covid-19. Unicef says “rotational attendance, sporadic school closures, and days off for specific grades, have resulted in school children losing 54 percent of learning time”. That is not the worst of Unicef’s figures. They allege that some 400 000 to 500 000 learners have reportedly dropped out of school in the last 16 months. It is believed that the vast majority of these “drop-out” students are based in informal settlements and rural areas.

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