The results of the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study show that 81% of Grade 4 learners in South Africa are unable to read for meaning in any language. Education experts have called on the Department of Education to produce a coherent and budgeted plan to address learning losses in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Children's reading levels in South Africa have been in dire straits for some time, but the release of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2021 results shows that for the current cohort of learners, vital ground has been lost.

In 2021, 81% of Grade 4 learners were unable to read for meaning in any of South Africa's 11 official languages, according to PIRLS data released by the Department of Basic Education on Tuesday. Previous iterations of the study in 2016 and 2011 put the percentage of Grade 4s who couldn't read for meaning at 78% and 82%, respectively, suggesting that recent learning losses have set progress back a decade.

The PIRLS 2021 study took place at a time of ongoing learning disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Shutdowns, delayed school openings and rotational timetables led to reduced class time, with a recent research note, Covid-19 and the South African curriculum policy response, estimating that most learners received only a third to half of the instructional time that they would have in a normal year throughout 2020 and 2021.

"We had a serious crisis in early grade reading before the pandemic and clearly, the pandemic has exacerbated...