Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

3-minute read
17 May 2023 | 20:43 CAT

Image: Room to Read

Eighty-one per cent of Grade 4 pupils in South Africa cannot read with meaning in any language. This is according to the latest Progress in International Reading Literacy Study or PIRLS results. It released its 2021 assessment outcomes, with South Africa far behind the world average. The assessment covered over 50 countries.

Early Childhood Development’s advocacy lead at SmartStart, who also sits on the ECD movement’s steering committee, Hoolang Selebalo, spoke to Radio Islam International.

She said grade 4 testing in South Africa occurred in eleven official languages. Western Cape learners performed the highest, followed by Gauteng, with the performance of North West at the lowest.

South Africa has steadily improved its PIRLS results since the country started to participate in 2006, and this is the first-time results have dipped.

According to Selebalo, the Covid-related decline had a considerable impact and contributed significantly to the dip. Prolonged school closures for the lower grades resulting in lost teaching time; over 60/ lost teaching time occurred in 2020, and around 50/were lost in 2021.

“Covid was the culprit that interrupted the progress which was seen in the earlier years,” she says.

Meanwhile, Selebalo highlighted South Africa’s comparison to other countries with about the same GDP. She said through an analysis that the average Brazilian grade 4 child is three years ahead of the average South African grade 4 child. Brazil scored an average of 419 points for grade 4 learners, with South Africa scoring around 288.

There is a myriad of consequences for a child who cannot read properly around the age of about 10, compromising their ability to succeed in the higher grades.

Listen to the full interview on Your World Today with Mufti Yusuf Moosagie.