Project to tackle SA's literacy crisis

IN CELEBRATION of Youth Month, the Cotton On Foundation has launched a bold initiative aimed at transforming literacy outcomes in South Africa.

- STAFF REPORTER

Titled "Beyond Words", the campaign sees the Cotton On Foundation and the Nomzamo Lighthouse Foundation come together in a long-standing and now extended partnership, with the goal to raise and invest R20 million into literacy across the country.

The initiative comes in response to the stark reality that 81% of Grade 4 learners in South Africa are unable to read for meaning, while 78% of public schools still operate without libraries. But it also signals hope: a united, focused and long-term drive to improve literacy across the country and change the story.

The Beyond Words Library and Literacy Project was officially launched at John Pama Primary School in Nyanga, Cape Town, earlier this month, with South African actress and humanitarian, Nomzamo Mbatha, who has had a long-standing relationship with the Cotton On Foundation and now leads the Nomzamo Lighthouse Foundation, present at the event. She was joined by financial literacy author Gugu Sidaki.