As the Covid-19 national lockdown continues, the Western Cape Department of Education (WCED) has made a list of resources through which learners can continue learning.
The department has updated the
ePortal to ensure learners will be able to access quality learning at home in a variety of ways.
“The ePortal is just one element of the WCED’s ‘Quality Education @home’ initiative,” a statement from Minister Debbie Schäfer explained, “and in the coming days and weeks we will further outline what parents, teachers and learners can do to ensure that while ‘schools are closed, learning is open’.”
The WCED ePortal (https://wcedeportal.co.za/) hosts a vast number of digital resources for learners, teachers and parents to access for self-learning and support. In the last two weeks this ePortal has been updated with additional features to support “Quality Learning @home” during this very uncertain time.
The ePortal contains:. More than 14 000 e-Resources categorised per grade, and subjects with 8 000 of these resources are free and can be accessed at www.wcedeportal.co.za. Learners in Grade 10-12 can register on the WCED e-Portal to receive e-Resources on the learner dashboard. Visit www.wcedeportal.co.za/register. The school closure pack is where curriculum suppliers offering eResources at no cost across a variety of subjects and grades. Visit www.wcedeportal.co.za/partners for more details.
4. Sharing eResources. For educators there is the e-Resources where teachers can share with their peers by contributing them to the ePortal. Sign up are at www.wcedeportal.co.za/user/login, and sharing of resources can be done at www.wcedeportal.co.za/add/eresource. “We are very aware that some learners do not have the opportunity to access certain resources because they do not have access to WiFi or sufficient data,” Schäfer said. “It is therefore very important that educational content is zero-rated so that they get free and fair access to e-learning opportunities, in order to ensure that no learner is prejudiced because they are poor.”
The national government recently published Government Gazette No 43107 of 18 March 2020 on Electronic Communication and Postal Broadcasting, with Section 9 providing that “Electronic Communication Service Licencees must provide zero-rated access to local educational content.”
Schäfer said her department had reached out to telecommunications companies about zero-rating the educational portal. “We have already had positive responses from some companies, and are hopeful the rest will follow suit. This will help hugely to ensure broad access.”
