The right to read

78% of Grade 4 learners in SA are unable to read with understanding. With 60% of South Africans living in households without a single book, The Big Issue has partnered with several players in early childhood learning to stem the tide of illiteracy.

- ALICIA ENGLISH

Around the world, organisations specialising in child literacy are preparing to mark the 10th annual World Read Aloud Day on 5 February 2020. The day was founded in 2010 by American organisation LitWorld to celebrate the joy of reading aloud, and advocate for literacy as a fundamental human right.

If literacy is indeed considered to be a human right, then the future seems especially bleak for 78% of South African learners in Grade 4 who can’t read with understanding, and the 62% of Grade 4 learners who do not have school libraries. These and other shocking statistics were revealed by the 2016 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), which monitors reading literacy trends and assesses comprehension in reading every five years. Moreover, 60% of South Africans live in households without a single book, according to the 2016 Report of the South African Book Development Council.

Dr Shelley O’Carroll, director of Wordworks, a non-profit organisation (NPO) that specialises in early language and literacy development in children, is convinced that childhood illiteracy is a national crisis that requires all sectors of society to address in big and small ways.

“The struggle for democracy was won by ordinary people taking a stand against an injustice that could not be tolerated. A generation of young children not able to read is another injustice that we must not accept.

“The literacy crisis cannot be solved in schools alone. If we want a better future for our children in South Africa, we must be prepared to give of our time and resources to raise awareness and contribute to initiatives to improve literacy for every child in this country. This is a crisis that demands an urgent and sustained response from all South Africans,” she says.