The Post-Pandemic Recovery Strategy of the Educational System in South Africa The 'New Normal'

The objective of the study explore the 'new normal' introduced by the global covid-19 pandemic and the South African education post-pandemic recovery strategy. The study discussed the recovery strategies adopted by the South African institution of higher learning post-CVID-19, to understand the innovative measures used, as well as the impact of the covid-19 epidemic in South Africa. On March 15, 2020, all South African post-secondary institutions began to implement steps to achieve the government's mandate of social isolation and lockdown, while continuing to conduct their main business of teaching and learning. To prepare for the national lockdown measures, a public higher education institution performed an immediate examination of all operations supporting and enabling the academic project. "There was a 'new normal,' with all teaching and learning activities taking place entirely online and academic staff needing to quickly prepare and capacitate themselves". This paper uses a qualitative technique or approach and the data were primarily collected through secondary sources with baseline available literature to critically reflect on how societies have dealt with such pandemics and shocks, situating the South African experience in a global and comparative perspective. It serves as an institutional case study, critically examining how its ideal of accessible excellence and equity was mediated by current events and its agility, emphasizing some of the problems and conflicts during the pandemic.