Cape Town - Equal Education (EE) and Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) say they are disappointed that the government, particularly the national and provincial education departments, have “failed to adequately address the deep cracks” in the education system that continue to let learners down.
Their comments come following the release of the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (2021 PIRLS) report which painted a worrying picture that 81% of Grade 4 learners in South Africa cannot read for meaning in any language, including their home languages.
“The ongoing reading crisis – many South African learners’ inability to read for meaning – shows how poorly the government and education departments have recognised the multiple challenges in the sector and have failed to muster the necessary political will to address them,” the organisations said in a joint statement.
“The pandemic only exposed existing cracks and worsened historic challenges in the sector. This is clear from the class divide in the 2021 PIRLS results, where English and Afrikaans schools (mostly quintiles 4 and 5) did not experience a decline in reading outcomes, but most African language schools (predominantly quintiles 1–3) did.”
EE and EELC said it was unfair to expect learners to master a foundational skill like reading when most of them lack important infrastructure relevant to reading, such as libraries.
“More concerted efforts and political will from national and provincial education departments are needed to address deficient learning outcomes in the country, including reading,” they said.
Cape Times