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With more than 310 000 foundation phase learners having benefitted from extra classes already, the Western Cape Education Department’s Back on Track Program continues to go from strength to strength. The program, which aims to reverse learning losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, has now been recognised by the national Department of Basic Education as a blueprint for reversing these losses across the country.

Systemic testing data since the pandemic has consistently demonstrated that mathematics and reading learning has greatly diminished since the pandemic. This is in line with a national trend of learning losses in the same time period. The 2023 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) found that 81% of Grade 4 learners in South Africa cannot read for meaning, illuminating a learning crisis which has been greatly exacerbated by the lockdowns of Covid.

In the Western Cape, urgent measures have been taken to address this. In May, the WCED launched the #BackOnTrack campaign, a R1.2 billion investment in extra classes across 333 additional schools in the province, in addition to the 1 100 schools which had already been receiving support at the foundation phase level. In addition to extra classes for learners, the campaign also includes additional training and support for teachers. As of June, 2 652 foundation phase teachers and 2 984 teachers across Grades 4, 7, 8, 10, and 12 had received training from the WCED in order to better support their learners.

While the program has only been ongoing for a few months, the results have been impressive. Recently, Western Cape Minister of Education David Maynier revealed that the national Department of Basic Education has issued a circular encouraging schools across the country to implement the Western Cape’s Back on Track time allocation model – a clear recognition that the Western Cape is on the right path.

Deidré Baartman, DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Education, says: ”The Back on Track initiative is one of the foremost measures that the WCED has taken to address the learning crisis caused by the Covid lockdowns. It is good to note that even the ANC’s national government has taken note of what is an undeniably sound policy, and has taken steps to implement it on a national level.”

Issued by Deidré Baartman, MPP - DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Education