Eight out of ten South Africans in Grade 4 struggle to understand what they are reading, regardless of the language, according to results of an international literacy study that were made public this week. The 2021 survey, which included reading comprehension tests of around 400,000 students, found that South Africa had the lowest score of all the participating countries.
Particularly concerning is South Africa’s decreasing ranking in comparison to our ranking in the 2016 report. The number of Grade 4 students in South Africa who are currently unable to read proficiently has climbed from 78% to 81%. Since the study’s inception in 2006, South Africa has not experienced a reverse in literacy rates.
Government recently highlighted the detrimental effect of Covid-19 on students’ performance when revealing the study’s findings.
But it is obvious that there is still a tremendous amount of work to be done if we are to reach the kinds of literacy levels observed in other developing nations, like Brazil, which has a comparable Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita.
“What these latest results show is that we are failing our children and thereby sabotaging our ability to grow our economy,” said Cape Chamber President Jacques Moolman.
“We urge government to respond to these findings with the necessary urgency. As a country we are at a severe disadvantage if our children are not afforded a decent education.” bizcommunity
