WORLD BOOK DAY BY JESSIE TAYLOR
Childhood Literacy: Creating a foundation for South Africa’s future
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ncreasing access to books is essential for improving South Africa’s literacy rates. Not only does access to books ensure that children have the necessary literacy skills to excel in their schooling, but it also provides some important benefits for childhood development. South Africa faces alarmingly low literacy rates. Experts estimate the vast majority of children in early schooling can’t read for meaning. And a lack of inperson learning time over the last two years – the result of the pandemic – is likely to make it even more difficult to close this gap in coming years.
educational foundation. This could delay language and reading development – even beyond the challenges already experienced in the country’s education system.
LOW LITERACY LEVELS AMONG LEARNERS The closure of Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres and primary schools due to the pandemic means that children have lost the momentum they would have had in their
Poor literacy rates can have long term impacts on learners. Children who struggle to read by age 13 have the highest risk of dropping out of schooling, and this, in turn, can impact adult literacy rates as well as future employment opportunities.
In the 2016 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), 80% of Grade 4 learners were unable to read for meaning across all languages in South Africa. The PIRLS assesses reading comprehension and monitors trends in reading literacy. At the time of the 2016 study, South Africa placed last out of the 50 countries participating.
60 | Public Sector Leaders | April 2022
Limited employment opportunities mean families are unable to break out of the cycle of poverty. South Africa’s adult literacy rates are also on the decrease, and with an 87% adult literacy rate, South Africa ranks below countries such as Mexico and Brazil. High adult literacy affects child literacy, as parents are often unable to assist with teaching children at home. A FUTURE OF AVID READERS Education is one of the country’s nine most pressing challenges, according to South Africa’s National Development Plan (NDP). The NDP looks to improve the quality of education for all the country’s children by 2030. But there is still some way to go, especially considering that only around two-thirds of learners complete their National Senior Certificate.
