Socio-economic rights and COVID-19 : The Right to basic education

Abstract

There are numerous crises related to the full realisation of the right to basic education. The provision of high-quality education and the elimination of inequality within the education system have been two of the major developments and targets that the government has been working on for the past few years. However, the emergence of the pandemic in 2019 caused a crisis within the educational system, resulting in the exacerbation of pre-existing educational inequalities. Therefore, this dissertation critically analyses these inequalities with specific reference to the unequal distribution of resources and digital inequalities. In this dissertation, the development of basic education in South Africa during the colonial, apartheid, and post-apartheid periods is observed. In this regard, it is argued that educational disparities are deeply rooted within the schooling system, regardless of democracy and constitutionality. Further, the pre-existing inequalities in the distribution of resources before the pandemic are analysed. It is argued that there is a reproduction of apartheid within the educational system where the education rights of black and/or poor learners are not properly realised to reflect social change as envisioned in the Constitution. As a result, the impact of the pandemic reveals that there is a need for long-term and substantial measures that will serve as alternative educational imaginaries.