Study reveals shocking percentage of Grade 3 learners cannot read in home language
Reading is a fundamental skill, and new data shows where focus and assistance are needed.
When you reach a certain age, you can't really remember a day when you couldn't read.
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Obviously, every child has to start somewhere, and the skills we learn as children are essential for development and growth.
It's no secret that one of the many problems South Africa faces is its education system.
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There are still many children who have to face intense struggles just to get into a school, and the journey from there doesn't necessarily get easier.
Unfortunately, there is more concerning data regarding the reading ability of young pupils.
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The 2030 Reading Panel has released their fifth report, which analyses data from the Department of Basic Education’s Funda Uphumelele National Survey (Funs).
For the first time, the report measured reading outcomes in Grades 1 to 4 in home languages against national benchmarks.
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According to TimesLIVE, the survey assessed 27,000 pupils across 710 schools.
The results yielded some shocking statistics:
- 15% of Grade 3 learners scored zero on reading assessments, meaning they were unable to decode even a single word.
- 30% of pupils in Grades 1 to 3 are reading at grade level in their home languages.
In some languages, up to 25% of grade three pupils could not read a single word.
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The results for the language groups:
English emerged as the highest-performing language in the study, well ahead of the others.
48% of pupils writing in English reached the national benchmark in grade three.
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The other high-scoring languages were:
- Tshivenda: 33%
- isiZulu: 31%
Middle scoring languages:
- siSwati: 27%
- Afrikaans and Setswana: 26%
Low-scoring languages:
Fewer than one in five pupils reached the benchmark in.
- isiXhosa 19%
- Sesotho 18%
- Xitsonga 16%
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The lowest results were recorded for isiNdebele at 14% and Sepedi at 11%.- Pupils writing in English were more than four times more likely to reach the benchmark than those writing in Sepedi, the lowest-performing language.
- In Sepedi, Xitsonga and siSwati, around a quarter of grade three pupils scored zero.
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How is a score of zero determined?
- The survey groups pupil performance into six categories.
- The first four are zero scores, non-readers, pre-readers, and emerging readers, all classified as below the benchmark.
- The zero scores refer to pupils who cannot provide a single correct answer (they are unable to identify a single letter or read a single word correctly).
- Pupils who reach the benchmark are divided into those who meet it and those who exceed it.
The data also shows a strong link between oral reading fluency and comprehension.
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Among Grade 3 and 4 pupils classified as non-readers, 86% scored below 25% for written comprehension.
Only 2% of non-readers scored above 50%, compared with 66% of pupils who met the benchmark.
The provinces where these languages are most prevalent also have some of the highest proportion of Grade 3 pupils with zero scores.
The report also highlights how these results go hand in hand with deep socio-economic inequalities.
New research on Grade R learning outcomes shows there are clear benefits to attending Grade R, however there are disparities between socio-economic classes.
It showed that across languages, pupils in quintile 1 schools are four times more likely to be unable to read a single word than pupils in quintile 5 schools.
Early childhood education shows similar patterns.
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After a year of Grade R, pupils in no-fee schools improved their early learning outcomes measure scores by up to 8.6 points, while pupils in mid-fee schools improved by 18.7 points.
Although Grade R is now compulsory under the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act, spending on Grade R is projected to decline by 1% between 2025 and 2027.
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How are these educational issues being addressed?
Basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube said the evidence points to learning gaps that begin in the foundation phase, not at the matric level.
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She stressed that matric results should not be the sole measure of success, arguing that early literacy is a more powerful indicator of long-term outcomes.
The department plans to introduce a minimum integrated support package for literacy and numeracy, roll out a new catalogue of graded readers and teaching materials in all official languages, strengthen structured curriculum delivery in African languages and launch a national home language reading programme.
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