Mother-tongue reading can combat Africa’s literacy crisis in early childhood learning

SOUTH Africa’s literacy crisis is deepening, with new research showing that most young learners are unable to read with understanding by Grade 4 - a challenge experts warn threatens the country’s education system and future economic growth.

- STAFF REPORTER

According to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), children in Africa who learn to read in a familiar language are 30% more likely to read with understanding before they start high school. This is significant for South Africa where, as revealed by the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2021), 81% of Grade 4 learners across all languages cannot read for meaning.

Underscoring the gravity of the problem, the 2030 Reading Panel set up in 2022 by the government to track early-grade literacy, says that by Grade 6, almost 70% of learners have not developed grade-level reading skills.