Literacy Month: Reading inequality remains entrenched across South Africa - IOL

Millions of South Africans still face the consequences of limited literacy, while children continue to struggle with foundational reading skills, highlighting the scale of the country’s literacy challenge.

The findings come into sharper focus this September as South Africa marks National Literacy Month and International Literacy Day, a period intended to draw attention not only to the importance of reading and writing, but to the inequalities that determine who gets to develop those skills.

Statistics South Africa’s latest analysis of the spatial distribution of adult illiteracy, released on September 11, shows that high-illiteracy clusters have become smaller and less intense since 1996.

But the problem has not disappeared.

According to Stats SA, the strongest remaining concentration of adult illiteracy is in north-eastern KwaZulu-Natal, broadly corresponding with the uMkhanyakude District, while additional high-illiteracy clusters remain in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.

By contrast, Gauteng and the Western Cape continue to form the strongest clusters of relatively low adult illiteracy, with the Gauteng cluster extending into neighbouring provinces.

Stats SA said the comparison between 1996 and 2022 showed “both continuity and change” in the geographical distribution of adult illiteracy.

“In summary, the comparison shows that the overall extent of high-illiteracy clustering declined substantially between 1996 and 2022,” the statistical agency said.

But it cautioned that “north-eastern KwaZulu-Natal remained the country’s most persistent hotspot”, while Gauteng and the Western Cape continued to form the strongest low-illiteracy clusters.

The Department of Basic Education’s (DBE’s) Funda Uphumelele National Survey assessed about 28 000 learners across 710 schools and established South Africa’s first nationally representative baseline for foundational reading skills across the country’s 11 official languages.

Only 31% of Grade 1 learners reached the Home Language Reading Benchmark, while just over 30% of learners in Grades 2 and 3 reached their respective reading benchmarks. Most concerning, 15% of Grade 3 learners were unable to read a single word.

The department has set a clear objective: children must develop the foundational skills needed to read with comprehension by the age of 10.

Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube said the results showed the scale of the challenge, but also provided the government with clearer evidence about where interventions are needed.

“The results of Funda Uphumelele confirm that we still face serious challenges in the early grades. Too many children are not yet reaching the reading fluency benchmarks needed to be on track to read with comprehension by Grade 4,” Gwarube said.

“But the good news is that we now understand much more precisely where the problem lies and therefore what to do about it.”

The department’s Director for Reading, Dr Nompumelelo Mohohlwane, has stressed that the responsibility cannot rest with teachers alone.

“Literacy is a shared responsibility,” Mohohlwane said during South Africa’s International Literacy Day commemoration in Mpumalanga this month.

She called on parents, teachers, schools, libraries, and communities to contribute to building a culture of reading and strengthening children’s vocabulary and literacy skills.

This year’s International Literacy Day was observed under the theme “Literacy for People, the Planet and Prosperity”, with Deputy Basic Education Minister Dr Reginah Mhaule placing particular emphasis on Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education.

Mhaule urged learners to embrace their home languages as sources of knowledge, identity, and pride, arguing that this approach can contribute to improving literacy and numeracy in schools.

The emphasis on early reading and home-language literacy is significant because the Funda Uphumelele findings show that inequalities emerge early.

The DBE found that learners in wealthier schools and in provinces such as Gauteng and the Western Cape were more likely to reach reading benchmarks, but the survey cautioned that this advantage was strongly associated with socioeconomic differences.

That means the map identified by Stats SA in adults has a lesson for the education system today.

South Africa’s relatively stronger literacy outcomes in places such as Gauteng and the Western Cape coexist with communities elsewhere where educational disadvantage remains deeply concentrated. And unless foundational reading improves, today’s struggling learners risk becoming tomorrow’s adults with limited literacy skills.

Mari Payne, deputy managing director and senior director for Education and Programmes at Sesame Workshop South Africa, said literacy development starts long before a child encounters a formal reading assessment.

“A baby hears a familiar voice and turns towards it. A toddler points through a taxi window while an adult teaches the child the names of what they can see. A three-year-old insists on hearing the same song again and again, or a young child makes up an elaborate story while two spoons become people and a box becomes a house,” Payne said.

“Long before children can read words on a page, they learn the foundations of literacy: how to listen, respond, recognise sounds, build vocabulary, follow meaning, and use language to connect with others. Growing minds make these connections through the loving voices and everyday routines around them.”