JONATHAN JANSEN: SA's terrible showing in PIRLS reading study is a national crisis
'We can now state without fear of contradiction that this government's track record on education has been an unmitigated failure'
At exactly 11am on Tuesday this week a report placed under "strict embargo" was released, only to reveal the most devastating news yet on the state of schools in post-apartheid South Africa. The PIRLS (Progress in International Reading and Literacy Study) 2016 report gave the results of one of the most scientific studies yet - 12,810 pupils were tested from 293 schools - on the state of reading among Grade 4 pupils in South Africa. Hold on to your seat. This study found that almost eight out of 10 children cannot read. No really, 78% of children in the grade sound words but do not understand the meaning of what they read. If you think that statistic is terrifying, the report then announces that when compared with the 49 other countries in the study, South Africa is dead last; that's right, 50th behind the likes of Iran and Kuwait. It gets even worse. Let's follow the narrative of the comradely politicians in power when this kind of news appears - apartheid is to blame, but things ar...
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