World Bank urges Western Cape to set bold new reading targets

The World Bank has recommended the Western Cape education department to emulate the US state of Mississippi in setting ambitious new targets for maths and reading, and track progress towards these goals.

Mississippi vaulted from being the second worst state in the US for grade 4 reading in 2013 to 21 a decade later, thanks to an ambitious programme that included screening and intervention for children who were struggling.

“Investing in education is imperative for any country that wants to grow and prosper,” said World Bank country director Satu Kahkonen at the release of a new report from the World Bank on education in the Western Cape.

“Change is possible ... because there are multiple countries in the world that have managed to dramatically increase learning. There is no reason that the Western Cape cannot do the same,” she said on Tuesday.

The report, commissioned by the Western Cape education department, highlights the huge challenges facing the province, which despite scoring better than the rest of the country on international tests still falls short by global standards.

Almost two thirds (62%) of children in grade 4 in the Western Cape were functionally illiterate in 2021, according to the most recent Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). The national figure was 81%. In Brazil, only 39% of children cannot read at the most basic level by age 10.

“The PIRLS tests confirmed the Covid-19 pandemic wiped out nearly a decade of gains and put the future of our youngest learners at risk,’ said the department’s deputy director-general for education planning, Salie Abrahams.

The greatest decline in reading scores in Western Cape was seen among schools that taught in isiXhosa, he said.

The report highlights the benefits of the annual systemic tests conducted in Western Cape schools, and says they could be used to target resources to learners who need additional support. The Western Cape is the only province to administer these tests, which it has done every year since 2002, with the exception of 2020 when schooling was disrupted due to Covid-19. 

The report proposes strengthening early childhood development services to give children a better foundation when they start school and improving training and support for teachers so they can tackle a diverse range of abilities within a classroom.

The pipeline of new teachers required to replace those set to retire offered an opportunity to improve training and support to ensure better teaching in the classroom, said the World Bank’s programme lead for human development, Elizabeth Ninan.

In 2021, more than two fifths of SA teachers were over the age of 50 and set to retire by the early 2030s. There was also significant attrition, with about 6% of teachers leaving the system each year, she said. 

While acknowledging the budget constraints facing the department, the report recommends building new schools and classrooms to reduce overcrowding.

The Western Cape has scaled back its infrastructure spending plans and is set to cut 2,400 teacher posts as it faces a R3.8bn budget shortfall over the next three years. Education departments across SA are facing a budget crisis, as the government did not fully fund its 2023 wage agreement with civil servants, leaving provinces to bridge the gap.

The World Bank recommended drawing on more private sector resources, noting that relatively few children attended independent schools in the Western Cape by international standards.

kahnt@businesslive.co.za