Literacy to blame for pass rate?

The lack of literacy and little reading could be the reason for the low pass rate and the high dropout rate, experts say.

The 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirlls) showed last year 81% of Grade 4 pupils were unable to read for meaning in any language.

Although the department of basic education welcomed the official 2023 matric pass rate of 82.9% this month, critics say the pass rate was much lower considering all the pupils who didn’t even make it to matric.

SAOU teachers’ union advisor Dr Huw Davies said language facility and literacy were an important consideration to the pass rate achieved by pupils writing the NSC.

“The survey results have been debated extensively and South Africans are rightly concerned about the very low rates of language performance of candidates in Grades 3 and 6,” he said.

“Those candidates who, after the Grade 6 level, cannot or do not improve their language competence are the ones most likely to drop out, while those who pass through the system to Grade 12 are the ones who have overcome to a sufficient level the challenges of a poor literacy rate,” he said.

Davies said fewer than 50% of all the pupils who enter the system in Grade 1 progress to Grade 12.

“It is not so much literacy levels in Grade 12 that affect examination performance, but rather the language competence of the candidates, most of whom write key subjects in a language other than their own.

“Also, if half the potential candidates have dropped out because they are unable to master the demands of learning the language, this is an indication of a serious problem within the education system which needs to be rectified.”

Davies said the promotion of language competence, in addition to literacy skills, should be a priority of the schooling system.

Last week, the Ford Motor Company Fund and Ford South Africa, in collaboration with Read Educational Trust, visited various primary schools to hand out reading books to pupils as part of the threeyear project. Ford provides an annual grant of R1.36 million for it.

Esther Buthelezi, Ford SA’s government affairs and transformation director, said: “Education, for us, is not merely an expenditure. It is a meaningful and long-lasting investment in the future of South Africa and our people.

“Ford’s commitment offers hope, not just to pupils but also to the communities in which they reside.

“Our journey continues, one book at a time, one child at a time.”