South Africa: National Reading Plan to Be Revised As SA Grapples With Poor Early Grade Learner Literacy

23 May 2023
Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)
analysis By Tamsin Metelerkamp

Efforts by the Department of Basic Education to revise its National Reading Plan are under way, with officials pushing a 'refined focus' on early childhood and African home language development. However, some parliamentarians are seeking assurance that past mistakes won't be repeated.

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) is revising its "National Integrated Reading Sector Plan", originally instituted in 2019, to refine its policies and ensure improved development of reading literacy.

Efforts to revise the plan have been spotlighted by the recent outcomes of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls) 2021, which found that 81% of Grade 4 learners in South Africa were unable to read for meaning in any language. However, the department reports that the process kicked off months before the results were launched.

"The [reading] strategy or the plan that was developed ... predated Covid, and they didn't take into account the fact that we have this new set of challenges," said Kulula Manona, the department's chief director for Foundations for Learning.

"This review that we're talking about now is being done with civil society, with academia, and that is the approach when we are developing strategies of this nature ... It is going to be consulted widely."

Manona was speaking at a meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education on Tuesday, where the department delivered a briefing on the Pirls 2021 results and its plans to improve children's literacy.

While the DBE emphasised the role...

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