The inaugural 2030 Reading Panel, chaired by former Deputy President, Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, calls for 'fundamental reforms' to ensure that all children read for meaning by age 10 by 2030; currently 78% of children cannot read for meaning

At current rates of progress it will take 80 years before all children learn to read

STELLENBOSCH, South Africa, Feb. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The panel will meet once a year until 2030, the Panel Secretary, Prof Nic Spaull, presented the 2022 Background Report summarising the main challenges including, initial teacher education, teacher retirements, funding and COVID-19 learning losses.

The main new findings presented in the background report were:

1. SA 10-year-olds in 2021 know less than 9-year-olds before the pandemic: Due to rotational timetables and school closures children in South Africa have lost 1,3 years of learning.
2. Half of teachers (45%) will retire in the next 10 years – this is "unprecedented." The report showed that due to the ageing of public school teachers many are about to reach retirement age (60). It will require universities to increase teacher production from 26,000 in 2018 to 44,000 by 2025 to 50,000 by 2030.
3. Before the pandemic South Africa's education system was improving slowly but steadily: The report showed that for children who were enrolled in Grade 1 from 1994 onwards, their reading and mathematics outcomes were consistently improving.
4. On SA's current trajectory it will take 80 years before all 10 year olds can read for meaning: Although President Ramaphosa committed his administration to ensuring that by 2030 all 10 year olds will read for meaning, on current projections 36% will be able to do so by 2030 (currently only 22% of 10 year olds can read for meaning in any language).
5. Current reading plans are "slogans" without funding: Most of the DBE's current plans for reading were primarily slogans ("Read to Lead," "Drop All and Read," President's Virtual Reading Circle) with "negligible" budget allocated to reading.

Dr Mlambo-Ngcuka called on each panellist and delegate to take responsibility for finding solutions: "Although schooling is primarily the responsibility of government, we all have a role to play here. Business, civil society, we all need to come together to tackle this issue."

The background report is available here. More info on the panel is here: https://www.readingpanel.co.za.

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Contact:
Aithne Molotsane 
+27 (0)73- 666-4462 
info@readingpanel.co.za