The Impact of Covid-19 in Higher Learning Institutions in South Africa: Teaching and Learning under Lockdown Restrictions

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to provide a critical examination on the impact of Covid-19 on teaching and learning in higher learning institutions in South Africa. There have been few studies on the phenomenon which mostly focused particularly on the impact of Covid-19 on teaching and learning in higher learning institutions. As a result, there is a dearth of scholarly work on the impact of Covid-19 primarily on the adoption of online learning as the sole learning strategy adopted during the stringent restrictions of the national lockdown. This paper, therefore, makes a contribution on the impact of Covid-19 on the adoption of online learning. A major finding in the paper is that, although the online teaching and learning strategy has brought convenience and flexibility for both university staff and students, it has its own disadvantages particularly for poor students. The paper conclude that the move to online learning has created an opportunity to learn from exceptional situations and could be of a positive benefit to most students to accord with the inventions of the technological landscape. The paper recommends that online learning should not be dropped-off should Covid-19 disperse rather, be assimilated with face-to-face learning in all spaces of higher learning.