The new Progress in International Reading and Literacy Study (Pirls) 2021 reading results show that South African kids perform the worst of all participating countries, with the largest Covid-related declines in reading achievement. We have lost a decade of progress and the average Grade 4 child in SA is three years behind their Brazilian counterpart.
In South Africa, it's always unwise to say, "Surely it can't get worse" because it generally can and does. Whether it's moving to Stage 9 blackouts or helping to arm Russia, it turns out it can always get worse. And so it is with reading.
The latest news on the literary front is that the percentage of Grade 4 children who can't read in any language has increased to 81% in 2021. The local and international reports cover a lot of ground so I thought I would highlight five key findings of the Pirls study:
- South Africa has lost a decade of progress, taking us back to 2011 levels of performance. Before the pandemic, South Africa was improving on the reading front, with the percentage of kids who cannot read in any language slowly declining from 87% (2006) to 82% (2011) to 78% (2016). The latest results show that this has increased again to 81% (2021), wiping out a decade of progress.
- Of more than 30 countries that participated in Pirls in 2016 and 2021, South Africa experienced the largest decline in reading achievement.
The Pirls 2021 assessment is the first nationally representative indication of learning losses to date. Although...
