Cape Town - A nation with more than 80% of its Grade 4 learners unable to read for meaning has a reason to demand the sacking of the people entrusted with the futures of their children.
There is no doubt that some teachers should shoulder a portion of the responsibility, but essentially the buck stops with Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga; although she appears to be looking for any reason to downplay the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS).
It shows that 81% of Grade 4s cannot read for meaning in any official languages. This was an increase from the previous 78% from 2016.
While the study is mostly done in developed countries, Morocco and Egypt also formed part of it, which leaves no room for South Africa to hide.
Behind these shocking statistics are young children who may not have a shot in life because they cannot read.
Therefore any attempt to treat this as just another survey that should pick up dust at the Department of Education’s headquarters would be ignoring a looming crisis South Africa can ill afford, especially when experts have told us of the many ways in which this could be addressed.
But these efforts must be matched with the political will and urgency they deserve, none of which is evident.
Motshekga’s comments that her department should instead be commended for being courageous for participating in the survey on the reading comprehension of Grade 4 learners is applauding fish for swimming.
Insisting that our Grade 4s could read, she said: “I want to repeat. Our kids can read. They can combine M, A and N to mean ‘man’.
Many of them, like many of us here, are not able to operate at a cognitive level where we are coherent, we are systematic. We make references and that is why they are not passing.”
The minister would do well to first admit the existence of the problem and then start with steps to address it. Simply trying to defend the indefensible is essentially playing with the future of our children.
This is the same department that has dismally failed to eradicate pit toilets, mostly in rural areas where some learners have drowned.
To have the same people dealing with our reading crises would be leaving our learners out in the cold. Suffer the little children.
Cape Times