W Cape fares better in literacy, says expert
‘It had no homeland within its borders and it keeps politics out of schools’
NOT having had homelands within the borders of the Western Cape gave the province an advantage, which is why it performed better than the other eight provinces in the latest Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls).
The Pirls report measures the literacy rates of Grade 4 pupils and revealed that 78% of pupils in Grade 4 are not able to read in any language.
Some of the findings include: eight out of 10 children in South Africa in that grade cannot read. The country also came last in reading out of 50 countries, while the reading level in the country has remained stagnant since 2011.
Basil Manuel, president of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa, said the Western Cape had a bit of a head start. “They started with an advantage. It was the one province that didn’t have homelands within its borders, so they didn’t have that deficit.
“The other provinces have had to play catch up and that takes a long time.”
Manuel said the Western Cape was one province that didn’t focus on “silly issues” and was a leader in focusing on real curriculum issues. “They have quite an organised administration and they ought to do better.”
He said the province also had a high number of parents involved in their children’s education, but added that access to reading books was needed.
“The schools do not have enough books at that level. And the schools do not send books home with children, they do not have anything to read.
“(Also) in Grade 3 there are only three subjects, while in Grade 4 you have six subjects. If you do not master it in Grade 3, who will have time to teach you?”
Manuel said the focus on matrics needed to stop and more attention needed to be paid to primary schools.
University of Pretoria education expert Professor Kobus Maree said the Western Cape had a well functioning education department and other provinces could have the same if politics stayed out of schools.
“It is well known that the Western Cape is well administered and there are no high levels of corruption. From where I am sitting, there is a wonderful collaboration between the education department and the district offices.”
He said other provinces needed to join hands with the Western Cape for the benefit of their pupils.
“There are many well functioning schools in other provinces, they must just forget about politics and join hands and there will be a difference.”
Education MEC Debbie Schäfer’s spokesperson, Jessica Shelver, said the priority of the Western Cape Education Department for many years has been to improve performance in language and mathematics. “These subjects provide the foundation needed for all learning.”
WHERE will you be in 10 years’ time? Whether it’s a growing business or growing family, we all make plans for our future. Yet our future selves are either enabled or limited by our broader context. So, what is our national context in a generation’s time?
Results from a global literacy study last week paint a devastating picture. The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls) assessing children’s reading comprehension has placed South African children last in 50 countries
The statistics show that 78% of Grade 4 pupils in South Africa cannot read for basic meaning in any national language. In other words, eight out of 10 9-year- olds in South Africa are currently functionally illiterate.
This survey presents the socio-economic equivalent of Cape Town’s taps running dry on Day Zero. Simply put, it’s the most urgent wakeup call our country has had on what our future looks like, and we need to respond accordingly.
There’s a reason the Pirls test targeted Grade 4s. The age is a tipping point: if a child remains functionally illiterate at age 9, there is a strong correlation to their remaining so, which in turn leads to an inevitably steep school drop-out shelf.
A 78% illiteracy rate in Grade 4 means the next generation will enter the workforce without these very basic skills needed to raise themselves out of poverty. It means a generation without the capacity to learn, to teach, to lead.
More alarmingly, it means a generation unable to pass along literacy to their own children, exacerbating the situation still further with every passing year.
In the US, there is an alarmingly precise correlation between the number of illiterate third grade boys and future incarceration statistics (the US, for reference, scored just 4% on the Pirls survey). In South Africa, boys have fallen behind to such an extent that they are now a full year of learning behind girls of the same age – the second-highest gender gap in the world.
The Pirls survey also attempted to quantify social inhibitors to education, such as bullying amongst peers.
The results? We are also world leaders there, with 42% of South African Grade 4s experiencing bullying weekly (by comparison, 15% of pupils reported the same experience in the US and UK).
What kind of future can we build when our children cannot build empathy?
The government is putting urgent plans in place to secure our resources – sustainable water, electricity supply and so on. We all weigh in on these because South Africans care about what our country looks like and we’re willing to make a noise when we feel a lack of leadership on these matters. Where is the noise here? If literacy is everybody’s problem, then it’s also everybody’s solution. These results need to be the rallying call to the heart of our nation. The good news – and there is much of it – is that change can happen. After all, Japan and, more recently, Chile, turned around their literacy rates by simply making it a holistic national priority.
But how do we start with a similar approach in South Africa? Where do we begin?
Take heart that many of us began a long time ago. NGOs have determinedly been stepping up to the plate, introducing and quietly maintaining extraordinary, effective, and targeted initiatives to support literacy development across the country.
Nal’ibali, for example, operates countrywide to spark children’s potential by creating opportunities for them to fall in love with books and stories in home languages as well as English.
Research proves that regular reading and a strong foundation of language in children’s mother tongues are two of the most significant indicators of future academic success – even more than socio-economic status. That’s food for thought in a country where the poverty trap seems inescapable.
We are hardly tackling this problem alone – it takes a nation to nurture a reading culture and Nal’ibali works hand-in-hand with hundreds of partners. Together we’ve seen extraordinary successes in our five years of operation.
We are fighting the odds and winning; helping to root a culture of reading in South Africa by immersing children, caregivers, and communities in great and well told stories in relaxed and meaningful ways rather than focusing on the mechanical literacy instruction so common in the classroom.
We are weaving a web of support and creative solutions that, given enough backing, will catch our pupils when they fall through the cracks of the formal education system. Just imagine what we could do if our work was amplified and enthusiastically championed across the country. It’s time for us to join forces.
Those who can’t in financial or practical terms can still play a vital part, simply by picking up a book. Reading or giving a good book to one child may feel like a tiny act, but the ramifications of these small, everyday actions can have startling consequences down the line. Stories teach us at a linguistic level – the basic vocabulary, spelling and grammar pour in unconsciously. But stories also teach us at a human level – they help us to imagine worlds and possibilities that are different to the ones we are currently experiencing.
In South Africa, right now, that’s surely a talent that every one of us needs to learn to develop.
For more information about the Nal’ibali campaign or to access children’s stories in a range of South African languages visit www.nalibali.org and www.nalibali.mobi or find us on Facebook and Twitter: nalibaliSA.
“THE STATISTICS SHOW THAT 78% OF GRADE 4 PUPILS IN SOUTH AFRICA CANNOT READ FOR BASIC MEANING IN ANY NATIONAL LANGUAGE