“Eight out of every 10 children in South Africa can’t read properly. Not in English, not in their home language, not in any language. According to The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), an international comparative reading assessment: 78% of Grade 4 learners in South Africa cannot read for meaning, and this is significantly worse for children tested in African languages—93% of Grade 4 students tested in Sepedi could not read for meaning with similarly large percentages among Setswana (90%), Tshivenda (89%), isiXhosa (88%), Xitsonga (88%), isiZulu (87%) and isiNdebele (87%).”
‘Why are South African children struggling to read properly?’ by Sindi-Leigh McBride on Africa is a Country
The PIRLS 2016 comparative reading assessment revealed shocking insights into South Africa’s literacy levels. Since then, many experts have been analysing the reasons for the literacy crisis, as well as making policy recommendations. As education expert Nic Spaull noted in his article ‘The unfolding reading crisis: The new PIRLS 2016 results…‘, the levels of reading achievement were horribly low.
He also noted that South African children had also experienced the highest levels of bullying compared to all 50 countries that participated in the study.
Spaull noted the following main findings:
- 8 of 10 SA children cannot read. (PIRLS report page 55)
- SA scores last in reading of 50 countries.
- SA lags far behind other countries. While 78% of SA Grade 4 kids cannot read, in America this is only 4% and in England just 3% cannot read.
- Reading crisis deeper than previously thought.
- Some evidence of improvement in reading 2006 to 2011 but stagnant since 2011.
- SA reading scores stagnant since 2011. There has been no improvement in reading scores over the last five years (i.e. 2011 to 2016). (PIRLS report page 29)
- SA gender gap in reading second highest in the world. Girls score much higher than boys in reading across the board. (PIRLS report page 43).
- SA boys scores seem to have declined between 2011 and 2016. (PIRLS report page 43).
- Declining number of SA students reaching high levels of reading achievement. (PIRLS report page 58).
Reasons for the illiteracy crisis
As to why South African children cannot read properly according to the study, Spaull has suggested that there are three main reasons: 1) Foundation Phase teachers struggle to teach reading, 2) low income schools do not have much text to work with. 3) Language issues contribute to literacy levels, as children must learn in English, which is a new language for many.
Recommendations and insights on the literacy crisis
In an open letter to the president from Nic Spaull and David Carel, they note that there has been no improvement in literacy since 2011. They encourage literacy to be dealt with urgently, as a crisis, and to implement a Marshall Plan for reading.
“What South Africa needs is to decide what Japan decided in 1872, that “there must be no community with an illiterate family, nor a family with an illiterate person”. This became Japan’s ‘Fundamental Code of Education’, the core of their development strategy, and they actually did it. Within decades they had successfully eradicated illiteracy.”
Recommended reading: ‘Why are South African children struggling to read properly?’ by Sindi-Leigh McBride