A reading crisis we can no longer ignore

Little boy reading book in the library. Picture: iStock As if we needed more evidence that, matric celebrations notwithstanding, South Africa’s education system has problems: now we hear that 1 in 7 Grade 3 pupils can’t read even one word. That is correct – not that they can’t read fluently, or that they can’t read for meaning, or can’t read sentences… they cannot distinguish a single word.

However, we must salute Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube for confirming what many see as the root problem of ills in our schooling system: “learning gaps begin in the early grades, not in matric, not in the intermediate or senior phase, but in the foundation phase itself.” She said ECD (early childhood development) must play a pivotal role in preparing children for school, adding that her department had exceeded its target of registering 10 000 ECD centres by 2025, by bringing 13 300 centres into the official fold. Unless this issue is rectified, its negative effects will multiply as pupils go through the system.