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LITERACY
from CSI November 2021
CORPORATE SOUTH AFRICA TACKLES SA’S DEEPENING LITERACY CRISIS
South Africa is facing a national reading and writing crisis, which could result in a greater lack of opportunities for the youth, keeping them locked in poverty. Fortunately, several corporate businesses have initiated literacy intervention programmes. ANÉL LEWIS takes a look at some of these
Children should be able to read and write with understanding in their home language by the age of 10, says the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). It argues in its September 2021 report, Right to Read and Write, that reading and writing is a condition of the right to basic education as enshrined in the Constitution. However, South Africa is facing a deepening literacy crisis where 78 per cent of Grade 4 learners are unable to read for meaning in their mother tongue, let alone a second language. According to the Progress in International Reading Study (2016), South Africa was the poorest performing country of the 50 countries scored. The situation has most certainly deteriorated since the pandemic, which resulted in school closures for much of the 2020 academic year. As such, interventions and partnerships to support literacy in the Foundation Phase are critical.
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS’S AWEH! SCHEME
Educational publisher Oxford University Press has heeded the call to support literacy as a whole by developing texts according to locally developed reading levels, says Barbara Strydom, lead publisher: schools languages. Its fl agship reading scheme, Aweh!, has been purpose-built for the local market. The vocabulary used in the text is based on wordlists created by looking at locally spoken and written words and words found in the Foundation Phase classroom and needed for the Intermediate Phase classroom.
“The Aweh! readers are a hybrid between a picture book (the books you buy at a bookshop or fi nd at the library with full-page artwork) and a traditional graded reader. Because the majority of our children are not exposed to picture books at home, Aweh! gives them access to fun, child-centred artwork that helps develop their imagination,” says Strydom. The stories also cover 12 genres of literature and are linked to the Foundation Phase Life Skills topics. “As literacy means being able to read, speak and write successfully, a creative writing activity is included at the end of each reader.” Barbara Strydom Oxford University Press also provides free workshops to thousands of teachers every year. The workshops, run by the publisher’s Institute of Professional Development for Educators, aim to improve the teaching of literacy in the Foundation Phase and beyond.
Through its Reading Support Project in the North West, Oxford University Press in collaboration with the National Department of Basic Education and other NGOs (and funded by United States Agency for International Development), has helped more than 2 300 teachers and heads of departments and over 77 000 learners in the Foundation Phase manage their literacy challenges. The research-based sustainable intervention includes the development of daily lesson plans, training on best practice teaching skills to teach English as a First Additional Language and the provision of the minimum required reading materials. “The research is continuing, and we believe a whole generation of learners have benefi tted from this project (2017–2020) through easing the switch of learning through English as a medium of instruction when they move to Grade 4 and onwards,” says Strydom.
FEMEF: PROMOTING EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Literacy and numeracy, especially in the Foundation Phase, has been identifi ed by the FEM Education Foundation NPC (FEMEF) as a “binding constraint that if not sorted, will hold back the improvement in school education” in South Africa. “With this in mind, the FEMEF invests in partners that will make signifi cant differences in promoting educational and leadership development,” says Ndivhuwo Manyonga, CEO of the Federated Employers Mutual (FEM) Assurance Company.
It has been supporting Funda Wande, a nonprofi t organisation that trains Foundation Phase teachers to help vulnerable learners read for meaning and calculate with confi dence in their home language by the age of 10, since 2018. “Our focus is on under-resourced areas requiring development in education. Many of our projects are run at schools in quintiles 1 to 3 (no-fee schools), in areas that are not funded or underfunded,” says Manyonga. “We also value organisations that have a strong partnership with the government, that have a national or regional reach and projects that can be scaled.”
Ndivhuwo Manyonga
SANLAM INVESTS IN EARLY LEARNING
The fi nancial services group has over the last three years supported literacy programmes in 22 non-fee-paying primary schools countrywide. More than 170 000 learners have benefi tted from Sanlam’s R9-million investment over this period, says Nozizwe Vundla, head of the Sanlam Foundation. “South Africa is in a reading-for-meaning crisis. Reading for meaning goes hand in hand with numeracy. We have therefore partnered with reputable NGOs to equip learners with a solid foundation in early learning.”
Vundla says the foundation has adopted a new education strategy that will focus on early childhood education, including the improvement of literacy in Home Languages, reading for comprehension, access to curriculum-based resources and teacher support for Grades 1 to 10. She adds that the pandemic has highlighted inequalities within the education system. “Lack of infrastructure, hardware and connectivity has been a challenge in the quintile 1 to 3 schools that the Sanlam Foundation supports.”
Lungisa Fuzile
STANDARD BANK’S LOCAL INITIATIVE PARTNERSHIPS
The pandemic catalysed Standard Bank’s collaboration with the Nal’ibali reading campaign in 2020. In response to school disruptions, the partnership launched a relief project to help communities in Gauteng and Limpopo. A network of trained literacy experts supported 120 families by sharing stories and resources to support the curriculum through an interactive WhatsApp group. Standard Bank has also partnered with Shine Literacy, an early intervention programme that focuses on reading support, to develop a data-free mobi-site called Story Time. Users can access the site, which includes 35 titles in isiZulu, isiXhosa, English, Afrikaans and French, for free. Since April 2021, the site has had 10 000 visitors from 41 countries.
“As a bank, we want to grow human capital and connect in meaningful ways with fellow South Africans. That is why we have partnered with local initiatives to ensure activities are available to learners,” says Lungisa Fuzile, chief executive of Standard Bank South Africa.
LUNGISA FUZILE, STANDARD BANK PROGRESSION FOCUSES ON BREAKING BARRIERS
Disability management solutions company Progression has its CSI focus on improving educational opportunities for children with disabilities. “Currently, SA has the highest inequality in the world. This translates to many children in rural communities not being able to access a fair start when it comes to learning, nutrition and the opportunity to develop,” says Beth Cook, CEO of Progression. The company has partnered with Siyawkazi, a community-based organisation that supports learners with barriers to learning in KwaZulu-Natal’s rural communities.
“Progression has supported Siyakwazi with its work in bringing inclusion into rural communities and enabling children with disabilities to access the necessary support they need, including access to Early Child Development (ECD) centres. There are still many stigmas surrounding people with disabilities, but awareness initiatives have improved Siyakwazi’s relationships within the local community,” says Cook.
She adds that many children in rural communities do not have a fair start because of their poor access to learning, nutrition and the opportunity to develop. “The hope is that both the private and public sectors will leverage investment to address these inequalities. The mobilisation of resources continues to be a challenge rather than just the challenge of perceptions,” says Cook.
