The coronavirus pandemic has deepened SA’s literacy crisis, erasing a decade of gains and leaving 81% of grade 4 children unable to read for meaning, according to new research.
The 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls), which measured the reading skills of nine- and 10-year-olds in 57 countries, shows the proportion of children who do not comprehend what they read has worsened from 78% in 2016, and is barely better than the 82% reported in 2011.
It is vital that children acquire reading and comprehension skills early on because once they progress past the foundation phase the curriculum assumes they can read to learn. Previous research has shown children who struggle to read for meaning are more likely to drop out of school or fare badly in matric, as the gap between their reading skills and the demands of the curriculum steadily widens.
“It’s a generational catastrophe. This is a once-in-50-year tragedy and we are continuing ... business as usual. We really are not matching our response with the severity of the issue,” said Stellenbosch University associate professor Nic Spaull.
SA participants obtained the lowest average reading score of all the countries taking part in Pirls 2021, with just 288 points, sharply down from the 320 in 2016. This meant they were one full year behind where they should be, said Spaull, because 40 points equates to a year of learning. A total of 12,422 grade 4 children from 321 schools across SA took part, with reading tests conducted in 11 languages.
The reading losses were worst in North West, which dropped from 326 to 232 points, and the Free State, which fell from 347 to 285 between 2016 and 2021. The Western Cape was the least badly affected, falling from 377 to 363 points, followed by KwaZulu-Natal, from 316 to 297 points.
SA is an outlier even among middle-income countries: in Brazil 39% of grade 4s cannot read for meaning, while in Iran the figure is 41%. In Singapore and the UK, just 3% cannot read for meaning, while in China and Hong Kong the figure is 2%.
SA had the highest gender disparity in reading skills, with girls scoring 317 points and boys 260, effectively placing girls a year ahead of boys. The results have worsened and the gap has widened since 2011, when girls scored 342 and boys 307.
The grim results arise despite the government setting aside resources for education, which takes the lion’s share of the expenditure budget. SA spent 6.6% of GDP on education in 2021, putting it ahead of most other middle-income countries.
Basic education minister Angie Motshekga said the pandemic disrupted the progress SA was making with improving reading skills, with young children particularly hard hit.
The government imposed intermittent school closures in response to Covid-19, costing SA pupils an estimated 155 school days in 2020 and 2021 — equivalent to three-quarters of a school year. In a study published in 2022, researchers estimated that most pupils were a year behind where they would have been were it not for Covid-19.
“These extended periods of lost instructional time were particularly critical for children in the early grades and those attending preschool, as they coincided with a crucial stage of their developmental journey,” the minister said. Work was under way to finalise a revised national reading plan, she said.
Wits education policy professor Brahm Fleisch said extensive research had been done into reading and there was strong evidence that interventions such as teacher support with on-site coaching were effective. “We have the evidence. It is in the hands of the department, but it has not been implemented at scale across the provinces,”
The DA’s shadow education minister, Baxolile Nodada, said Motshekga’s department had failed to implement and monitor the reading plan, or allocate an adequate budget to it. The DA-led Western Cape was the only province that had set up a dedicated plan for improving literacy, as part of its “back on track programme” to reverse the learning losses of the pandemic, he said.
Breadline Africa director Marion Wagner said the Pirls results highlighted the critical importance of early childhood development centres with strong learning outcomes, and the importance of access to books during a child’s first 10 years. “The reality is that more than half of SA’s preschools don’t have basic infrastructure conducive for learning and nearly 80% of primary schools do not have a functional library,” Wagner said.
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