Cape Town – President Cyril Ramaphosa has responded to the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), which revealed that 81% of grade four learners in South Africa cannot read for comprehension in any language.
Speaking at a presidential imbizo in Paarl, Ramaphosa acknowledged the country’s serious reading problem and emphasised the need for urgent action.
He expressed a commitment to improving the reading capabilities of young learners and suggested that expanding early childhood development centres could be part of the solution.
“Reading for our young people has become a major problem. We now have to focus on our education system, but also to ensure that our young people are able to read for meaning when they are still at a young age,” EWN quoted Ramaphosa as saying.
The finding from the US-based PIRLS showed that 81% of South African fourth-graders, aged between nine and 10, battled with reading comprehension.
ALSO READ | In SA a 3-year-old reader stands out amid literacy ‘crisis’
The inability to read worsened in Africa’s most indistrualised country from 78% of youngsters in 2016 to 81% in 2021, the latest year studied, AFP reported.
The investigation assessed 400 000 pupils across 57 countries globally. South Africa came lowest, scoring 288 points compared with the international average of 500. The highest was Singapore, with 587 points.
“Unfortunately, the test results reveal disappointingly low scores in reading literacy,” Education Minister Angie Motshekga said Tuesday, commenting on the results at an education conference in the capital Pretoria.
She said in many primary schools “reading instruction often focuses solely on oral performance, neglecting reading comprehension and making sense of written words.”
The minister blamed the Covid-19 pandemic for putting brakes on government’s programme to improve primary education. Schools in South Africa were closed for roughly a year to help prevent the spread of the virus.
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Picture: Twitter/PresidencyZA
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
Compiled by Betha Madhomu
