Afrika Tikkun Bambanani supports and supplies to resources for reading at the very foundation of a child's development - at Early Childhood Development Centres around the country.
Pascale Bakos
By the time a child reaches Grade 4, the foundations needed to understand a story, interpret a question and express an idea should already be firmly established. Yet for far too many South African children, these foundations remain fragile.
The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study revealed that 81% of South African Grade 4 learners could not read for meaning in any language in 2021. This represented a deterioration from 78% in 2016 and confirmed that South Africa’s reading challenge is not confined to a particular school, province or language. It is a national crisis that requires attention long before children reach the Intermediate Phase.
While the statistic is alarming, the difficulty does not suddenly emerge in Grade 4. A child’s journey towards literacy begins in the earliest years through conversation, stories, songs, play, vocabulary development and the ability to listen and respond. These experiences help children connect sounds and words, follow instructions, communicate their thoughts and, eventually, understand what they read.
