By Edwin Naidu
Politicians are good at speeches. But they must learn to walk the talk.
During the State of the Nation Address in February, President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the government was committed to “ensuring that every child can read for meaning in the foundation phase”.
Such a commitment is empty without admitting that since democracy, the ANC has failed the children of South Africa. It regressed under the helm of former basic education minister Angie Motshekga.
But we don’t criticise our leaders who lead us down the drain. They must be praised at all costs.
And the government continues to make empty promises as 80% of Grade 3 learners cannot read for meaning in any language as measured by the South African systemic assessment.
Reports from the South African Systemic Evaluation (SASE) (2022) and the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (2021), which were released last year, support the findings of the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study that 81% of Grade 4 learners cannot read for meaning in any language.
The SASE reveals that only 20% of Grade 3 learners perform at grade level or above in their home language, and nearly 70% of Grade 6 learners have not achieved grade-level reading skills in the language of learning and teaching – Afrikaans or English.
If that is not failure, then measuring success comes far too easily for our government, especially if one considers the razzmatazz around the matric results. How do you call it success when hundreds of thousands of learners starting Grade One don’t make it to matric?
A new report by the 2030 Reading Panel provides sobering reading. It highlights that the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Gauteng are the only provinces that are at different stages of implementing assessments at primary schools to improve reading.
It recommends that meaningful budgets be allocated to reading resources and interventions, with Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube emphasising that reading is a vital element of education reform and critical to protecting “South Africa’s greatest asset, our young people”.
The Reading Panel is made up of great South Africans and is led by chair Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who is former deputy president of South Africa. They include vice-chancellors, leaders of education NGOs, and foundations.
To bolster its efforts in literacy reform and systemic change, the panel has four new experts – Prof. Veronica McKay, Dr Faranaaz Veriava, Kentse Radebe and Prof. Mary Metcalfe.
They are top education experts whose commitment to a better South Africa cannot be questioned.
I wish them well in their roles. However, like the president has shown when he speaks, nobody seems to listen. Is it because they cannot read?
In which case, some blame must fall at the door of Minister Motshekga, who spent more than a decade in the hotseat as the country’s education head. Children cannot read because education under her watch has been a failure.
If this pattern is not to be emulated by Gwarube, she must do more than her predecessor.
The 2030 Reading Panel is one great initiative.
But where are the young ambassadors to inspire others to join the fight to read? Too many experts and no children will trip up a great initiative.
Children need role models they can relate to. Perhaps, that’s something to consider when they bring others on board.
Edwin Naidu is Editor of Inside Education.
INSIDE EDUCATION
