BOKAMOSO
Six things we must do to get SA’s children reading
This week we learned that 78% of our Grade 4 children are functionally illiterate. This means 4 out of 5 children aged 9-10 cannot comprehend what they read. The implication for South Africa’s future is chilling. We will never achieve the broad justice, equality and prosperity we seek while the vast majority of our primary schools – those serving poor black children – are not able to give children a firm foundation for learning.
These dire numbers come from the 2016 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) report released this week, which ranked South Africa last out of 50 high and medium income countries, and found no improvement in our outcomes since the last study in 2011.
It is crucially important that our children learn to read with meaning by the end of the Foundation Phase in Grade 3. It has been said that “once you learn to read you will be forever free”. Functional literacy is the foundation for all further learning, including the learning of mathematics. Children who do not “learn to read” in grades 1-3 will fall further and further behind in grades 4 to 12, when they must “read to learn” in all subjects.
Poor academic performance is one of the main reasons for SA’s incredibly high dropout rate after grade 9. By denying our children a firm foundation of literacy, we put them on the back foot for the rest of their schooling and lives, decimating their chances of ever fulfilling their potential. We deny them a foothold on the ladder of opportunity they must climb if they are to escape the poverty trap.