No books at all in 43% of SA households with young children

There are no books at all in 43% of SA households with young children, and just 16% contain more than five books, according to research released yesterday by the UN children’s agency Unicef.

The study highlights how reading and storytelling are neglected in many households and comes hard on the heels of results of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls) 2021, which found 81% of SA’s grade 4 children could not read for meaning.

Reading for meaning refers to the ability to extract meaning from a section of text, and is a vital skill a child needs to acquire to progress through the school curriculum. “Access to books and in turn reading and storytelling is critical because it sets the child up for foundational literacy in formal school,” Unicef SA deputy representative Muriel Mafico said.

“The first 1,000 days of life are when a child’s brain develops the fastest.

“Listening to stories and playing is an essential part of a child’s development to get the best start in life,” she said.

The research was commissioned by Unicef and the department of basic education.

It included 1,422 participants in all nine provinces from both urban and rural settings and explored the knowledge, attitudes and practices of caregivers responsible for children up to the age of six years.

It found even though 58% of households had access to some books, only 32% of caregivers reported reading regularly to young children, with many of them saying babies and toddlers under the age of two years were too young for books and play.

Parents were using television and cellphones as an easy distraction, with 71% reporting that children used these devices frequently, the researchers said.

Drawing and painting were not common and were reported by just 33% of caregivers, while 71% of respondents said they rarely played traditional games with the children in their care.