The 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), released last week, found that 81 per cent of South African Grade 4 pupils (10 – 11 years old) could not read for meaning.

The Minister of Education, Angie Motshekga, noted that a lot of learning time had been lost over the last few years due to COVID-19. However, in the equivalent study in 2016, long before COVID, the figure was almost as bad – 78 per cent.

Submitted by the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference Parliamentary Liaison Office