That little Thabo somewhere in South Africa cannot segment individual letter sounds in words, or blend letters to form meaning, shows our children’s future is on the line.
The Reading Panel released a finding that grade 4 children who cannot read for meaning will increase from 78% pre-pandemic to an estimated 82%. This was supported by a survey into the impact of the pandemic on learning losses undertaken in the Western Cape, which tested grade 3 and grade 6 pupils in both language and mathematics. We, their parents, were cooped up in our homes with them during the lockdowns when they fell a full year behind same-age children in 2019.
It’s an injustice how not just parents but professionals have failed little Thabo. This is worsened by subject advisers in universities not being well-versed in training teachers, who must impart knowledge to children. The report also said there are simply too few of them to realistically train the teachers they are responsible for.
Like an oasis in a desert, schools should nurture the education system. Words are a powerful tool most people have used to defy even the most unjust of systems, the apartheid government. Though we were not born with the ability to read, reading is central to our understanding of the world. Hence learning how to code words and their meaning at an early age is critical.
When late national poet laureate Keorapetse “Bra Willie” Kgositsile wrote “daar is kaak in die land” he was defying an apartheid government that sent him into exile for his radical literature contribution and journalism at anti-apartheid publication New Age (not the Gupta-owned propaganda platform).
The un-translation of these words is intentional, a protest and a radical critique of the system that — among other things — did not believe that black people should receive an education beyond a level that would prepare them for lowly and labour-intensive work.
The perennial story of South Africa is that no single problem is simple, everything is loaded. The education problem is complex and systematic, we need resources, training for teachers, a budget for reading initiatives and buy-in from professionals.
Jessie-Anne Bird, an educational psychologist, said learning to read starts way before we go to school. It begins when babies babble and start sounding the “baa baa and the daa daa, eventually evolving into mamas and dadas”. With this process, they are developing an understanding of sound and start to relate the sound to meaning, later words. “When they start to learn to read is when they are associating the sound with the letter they see on the page. People sometimes see reading as a visual process, but the auditory part is more important,” Bird said.
She indicates that there are a few challenges that come with learning, especially in a diverse and socio-economically challenged country such as ours. Language is a factor: when children are taught in a language they did not necessarily start life with, this presents a host of barriers.
The perennial story of South Africa is that no single problem is simple, everything is loaded. The education problem is complex and systematic, we need resources, training for teachers, a budget for reading initiatives and buy-in from professionals.
In his state of the nation address, President Cyril Ramaphosa said access to quality education for all is “the most powerful instrument we have to end poverty”. But how? When his government and that of his predecessors have failed to put money where their mouth is? It has become a slogan of meaningless affirmation, because little Thabo might grow up to be a dropout milling around in frustration as his interpretation of the world is not well-informed. Language is central to people understanding of life. Words need a home, a vessel, a place.
In terms of development, the sounds need to be in the minds of children in the form of words. Even your first cry is a language to a doctor to tell if you are healthy or not, it’s a sign and sound of life. The report revealed that there is a lack of political will and budget to implement well-funded programmes. That the problem is not about lacking an evidence base on how to improve reading outcomes, but rather a failure to fund interventions.
In 1977 Bra Willie, who returned to Africa after spending much of his exile in America, resumed his activism for the once-mighty ANC, and one of his greatest contributions was founding its department of education, and the department of arts and culture. Through his work Bra Willie underlined that the courage to be free is a critical asset. So by properly educating the child, we are solving the world’s problems. We are actively inculcating democratic values, fighting all sorts of injustice and helping them flourish.
It will take the country 86 years for the majority of children to read for meaning if anything is done from this year. Bra Willie exclaimed: “The voice of the ancients warns that those who sh*t on the road, will meet flies on their way back.” If nothing is done now, this country’s future is as good as dead in the water.
The poor reading standards can be blamed on teachers, parents, lecturers who teach teachers, the department of education, unions, professionals and the public. As for the government, it’s a no-brainer. There’s a sermon in here somewhere, the legacy of a literary giant whose activism was born out of words has been reduced to a section of society that cannot even produce a 50% reader-ability for children.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.