Forage & Feast
November 27, 2019
Time of invention
February 21, 2020
The right to read
Words: Alicia English Images: Getty Images
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.
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.
