THE progress in International Reading Literacy study in 2016 showed that 78% of South African children in Grade 4 could not read for significant meaning in any language.
In another survey, by Statistics SA, there were 9.6 million illiterate adults above the age of 15 in the country.
This situation was a focus on World Literacy Day on September 8, when the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) highlighted literacy teaching and learning in the Covid-19 crisis and beyond.
World Literacy Day is about reminding everyone of the importance of literacy for people and communities. To mark the occasion locally, former Miss SA, Ntando Kunene, and PhD candidate and lecturer, Thokozane Dyosini, launched a children’s book titled ’Cory in the Universe’ which aims to teach children about the coronavirus.
The edu-tainment book, launched in conjunction with the Department of Arts and Culture, will be available in all 11 official languages.
Kunene said the conversation around Covid-19 had been aimed at adults, and they saw it as important that children also understand what was happening around them in language they can understand.
Dyosini said as teachers, they felt it was important to create resources and stories “that look and sound like our children” and are presented from their perspective.
“We wanted to create a story that was representative of who we are as South Africans. This is also about taking pride in our languages; we feel like our indigenous languages, post-apartheid, have been marginalised for a very long time and it’s time for them to shine and come to the forefront where they can be celebrated just like the important aspects of our lives.”
Director-general for the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture Vusumuzi Mkhize, who was at the book launch, said there was a time when people used to say “each one teach one”.
The responsibility then to make sure that illiteracy was eradicated lay upon each and every one, he said. Mkhize said some parents did not have much, but sacrificed for the education of their children.
“It is time to give back to them by reading to them and teaching them so that they can be able to read and understand even the simplest things.
“We must remember that we are coming from a very painful discriminatory history, conditions that were not conducive for learning and lack of access to any learning material.
“Covid-19 has shown us the fault lines of our country, such as inequality and poverty.” He said children in rural areas struggled with not having connectivity, let alone cellphones to access learning materials.