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Amnesty International has slammed the Department of Basic Education after the latest Reading Literacy Study found that 80% of Grade 4’s in South Africa cannot read for meaning.
The organisation was commenting after the Department released the report on the outcome of South Africa’s Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2021 assessment this week.
According to reports, the latest PIRLS survey found that just 19% of Grade 4 learners can read for meaning, a 3% decline from the 2016 study.
Amnesty International South Africa executive director, Shenila Mohamed described the findings as “shocking” saying it illustrated that the government continues to fail to respect, protect, promote, and fulfill the right to basic education for all.
She said this right has been recognised by the Constitutional Court of South Africa as immediately realisable.
“If this is not a wake-up call, we don’t know what is. South Africa’s education system continues to be broken and unequal, risking snuffing out the potential bright futures of children across the country,” she said.
Mohamed said while Amnesty acknowledged that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is deep, she said this was already a problem before the pandemic, and has just been exacerbated further.
“The DBE must develop a time-bound, measurable, and transparent plan to respond to this crisis. This is about the future of South Africa,” she said.
Mohamed said, “Young people should no longer bear the brunt of the government’s failures.”
