By Abraham Mabior Rioc, Juba—South Sudan
Monday, May 11, 2020 (PW) — In South Sudan, since the government has relaxed some rules and regulations regarding Covid-19 pandemic, I am of the view that Social Distanced Compensatory teaching and learning strategies could be devised for only Primary 8, Senior 4, and university final year Candidates. These categories of learners at all educational levels should be taken into consideration so that the academic gap is literally and systematically maintained.
Taking the University of Juba as an example in terms of precautionary classroom management measures of Covid-19, a maximum number of 30 students could be allowed to sit in New Hall 1 or New Hall 2. These New Halls 1 and 2, for those who know them have first-hand knowledge that they previously used to take over 200 students per session. Alternatively, the rest of the lecture halls which take 50 or more students could be planned so that quarter of its carrying capacity is scheduled for each session, one at a time.
Taking into consideration of precautionary measures of Covid-19, each student ought to be advised to put on mask and protective gloves, likewise the instructors. Since most of the students are financially stabbing, the government should provide them with the required protective equipment.
Moreover, hand washing facilities alongside soap and sanitizers be placed at the university entry gate so that students wash and sanitize their hands before entering into the classrooms. On the same note, library and cafeteria should not be used at all and student gathering is strictly prohibited with the campus and its surrounding.
Random access to the university premise is completely limited. Only those students who have lessons at that time will be allowed to go in and out of the university when the sessions finish. Regarding timeframe, each session should strictly last for 1 hour. Session schedules should be well planned so that each class should have lessons twice a week. This is just a compensatory and compromised learning event so that each academic year academic gap is kept in check.
In relation to transportation of the learners, all students should be transported to and fro and dropped at each designated station. The buses should take half of its carrying capacity every time they transport students. Since the government is the sole provider of basic services, it should invest on that by hiring buses and meeting all the operational costs.
All these buses should be hired fully by the government for at least 3 months and be kept at school premises after the transportation to and fro of the learners. They should be sprayed ever evening and morning to keep the safe for our learners. Since education is a collective responsibility for all, the well-wishers, Donors, and NGOs from different shades should provide a helping hand in implementing these timely activities.
On the other hand, the willing 3rd, 4th, and 5th year medical students be recruited and provisionally trained on health and hygiene management to help people at all public health institutions. I exclude 6th year medical students from these because they will be actively engaged at the university as finalists through condensed lessons.
As per motivation, these students be given incentives by the government at least 30,000 a month. By doing so, their contribution will be of great help to the government and the wider community especially in this critical time we are in to help raising awareness campaigns at the grassroots levels.
Substantially, these students will in turn get hand-on experiences at their respective fields. Since our states are lacking enough medical personnel, these medical students could be taken to states (one for his or her state) at the expenses of the government. Here, I don’t want to be considered as discriminative. Nonetheless, I just consider the fact that most of students could posted in their respective states because they speak their vernacular dialects which could be easily understood by local population when interpreting messages of Covid-19.
Equally important, these medical students can be of more help to our community back home if this suggestion is carefully taken into consideration. They can advise on preventive measures and interventions of Covid-19 since prevention is better than cure.
Concerning Primary Eight (8) and Senior Four (4) candidates, the respective schools should keep in mind social distancing where each class could take 20 learners at a time. Lessons could be planned for 90 minutes. No other lower classes could be allowed to operate. This opinionated article is aimed at maintaining an academic gap so that South Sudan should not have an educational wastage per se.
Regarding other classes, both at the university and primary, and secondary schools, they should wait until the situation subsidizes. In the world over, there are many challenges but to have a workable education system, it needs creativity and innovativeness of ideas. Let’s be creative and innovative at this time of Covid-19 so that our education system is kept at a feasible state.
The Author holds dual masters’ Degrees in Education from the University of Juba and The University of Hong Kong. He is reachable via mabiorrioc@gmail.com