Open AccessMagnitude of Covid-19 on Rural Universities in the Eastern Cape Province: Lessons Learnt
Author(s) -
Newlin Marongwe,
Chisango Grasiab
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
cypriot journal of educational sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.22
H-Index - 5
eISSN - 1305-905X
pISSN - 1305-9076
DOI - 10.18844/cjes.v16i5.6320
Subject(s) - pandemic , covid-19 , higher education , economic growth , institution , political science , plan (archaeology) , e learning , public relations , geography , educational technology , economics , medicine , disease , archaeology , pathology , virology , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty) , law
This research paper aims at assessing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on rural institutions of higher learning in South Africa. It further explores lessons learnt from the magnitude of the pandemic. Covid-19 does not discriminate – it spares no institution, no organisation, and no country but infects and affects everyone. Some institutions of learning, when hit by Covid-19 were better prepared to fight it because their alert levels were higher than that of African countries. This study adopted a desktop approach which relied on published data. The paper concludes that the impact of Covid-19 on institutions of higher learning was catastrophic. The magnitude of the Covid-19 pandemic on rural institutions of higher learning in South Africa was devastating because some universities had no strategy to counter the challenge. One of the lessons learnt was that the universities’ think-tanks should plan in advance, be proactive, and be ahead of any challenge.
Keywords: Covid-19; e-learning; higher learning; impact; lessons; pandemic
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