NATHANIEL LEE | Long-running episodes of outages show dismal failure of the 19994 project

The intensifying levels of load shedding are a clear indication of the dismal failure of the 1994 democratic project. In a recent incident, a three-year-old baby died after an inverter which kept her breathing machine on ran out of battery power following an episode of load shedding.

The baby suffered from a rare neurodevelopmental disorder called Woree syndrome which causes drug-resistant epilepsy and global developmental delay. Load shedding has ceased being only an irritant but has morphed into a threat to life and livelihood.

The bad news is that Eskom tells us that it is about to get worse as we approach the winter season due to increased demand. This means Eskom may have to implement electricity cuts to unprecedented levels with the demand expected to surge to 33,000 megawatts but the power producer is only able to produce 26,000 megawatts.

The crippling power cuts continue to wreak havoc with the South African economy reducing the gross domestic product (GDP) by about 5% in 2022 according to Eskom. It has become common knowledge that the ANC through its catastrophic neglect in building new power generation capacity at Eskom coupled with its criminal incompetence and corruption, has brought us to this stage.

By destroying Eskom, the ANC has collapsed a crucial pillar of a modern state which is energy. Without this critical pillar, not much works. Lack of electricity affects other important pillars such as health, education and security.

The ANC has certainly taken the country back to the dark ages even issuing an instruction for South Africans to start seeking for other sources of energy. Lack of electricity also affects education in a way that can only stifle any development and torpedo any slim chances of ridding the country of the triple scourges of poverty, unemployment and inequality.

Recognising education as one of the most essential components for poverty reduction, lack of electricity at primary and secondary schools therefore creates considerable obstacles towards escaping poverty and correlates with many factors that contribute towards it.

Some of the ways lack of power affects education include the reduction of teaching resources and classroom materials. Teachers cannot produce copies of school assignments and when connectivity is affected, pupils cannot access digital lessons. The quality of teaching and learning is thus negatively affected.

School administration is also made complicated as grades and attendance rates have to be recorded manually which is both inconvenient and cumbersome. Schools need electricity to use computers and for appliances such as printers, TV and radio.

The reliance on technology for teaching makes it imperative that the lights are kept on to ensure that teachers are able to use audio-visual aids, digital presentations and other interactive technologies. These all play a key role in the educative process. The absence of electricity makes internet access unavailable which can make research and online assessment impossible.

Pupils also struggle to complete their homework and assignments as they have to battle to study in complete darkness.

The availability of electricity provides schools with access to modern methods and techniques of teaching which help in the holistic development of pupils and increases their attraction towards learning. In addition, electricity affords pupils more time to study as they can do it after sunset through lighting appliances. The use of electrical appliances will ensure pupils are not left behind in technological advancements through information communication technologies (ICT).

Exposure to these can only lead to improved literacy rates and boost enrolment rates whilst curbing drop-out rates. Electricity availability in schools can also serve to build the capacity of communities through training and capacity-building projects. Community groups can be encouraged to use the facilities when schools are not in use. The basic after-hour school activities can include adult learning, resource use and information dissemination, cultural and social, youth activities, including day care and health, leisure, and recreation.

Through these school-community projects, schools can benefit through tighter links with the communities which will start regarding the school with a sense of ownership and be willing to protect them. What is clear is that the impact of load-shedding on education is deleterious, not only disrupting learning, but also threatening learning outcomes.

The processes of teaching and learning are severely hampered and this cannot augur well for the future of the country. South Africans will once more be afforded the opportunity to correct the mistake of 1994 and thirty wasted years and write a new narrative by not returning the ANC to power in 2024.