SA failing dismally in teaching kids to read, survey shows

SOUTH Africa is at the bottom of the class when it comes to teaching children to read.

Almost four in five (80%) Grade 4 pupils fall below the lowest internationally recognised level of reading literacy – and South Africa is last out of 50 countries in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls).

The 2016 report – released yesterday – said there had been no significant progress in improving the reading skills of children since the previous survey five years ago.

“Being able to read is the key to academic and future success‚” Celeste Combrinck said.

She is the acting director at the University of Pretoria Centre for Evaluation and Assessment‚ which conducted the South African leg of Pirls.

“If you can’t read‚ your opportunities in school, or after it, will be limited – which is why reading should start at a very young age,” she said.

But there was a glimmer of hope, Combrinck said.

Between 2011 and last year there was an improvement in performance for five African languages (of 11 tested) at Grade 4 level.

At the end of 2015‚ Combrinck’s team tested the reading skills of 12 810 Grade 4 pupils in all 11 official languages.

More than 5 000 Grade 5 children were tested in Afrikaans‚ English and Zulu.

South Africa Pirls coordinator Professor Sarah Howie said the results showed most pupils could not read well enough to pass in subjects across the curriculum in Grade 4 and higher.

Combrinck said: “What is troubling is this is true across all languages‚ as less than a quarter of pupils overall reached the lowest international benchmark.

“While less than half of the pupils who wrote the tests in English and Afrikaans could read‚ 80% of those learning in one of the other nine official languages cannot read at all.”

The Western Cape‚ Free State and Gauteng performed the best‚ while reading achievement in Sepedi‚ Xhosa‚ Setswana and Tshivenda was the weakest.

Boys performed worse than girls‚ with 84% not being able to reach the lowest benchmark‚ in comparison with 72% of girls.

“The groups most at risk are those in deep rural areas and townships‚” Combrinck said.

Howie said she hoped the findings would inspire solutions.

Another finding was that class numbers were increasing.

If you can’t read‚ your opportunities in school, or after it, will be limited