Study: 81% of Grade 4 pupils in SA can't read for meaning
South African learners ranked amongst the lowest in the latest Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) .
South Africa has a reading problem.
This has been highlighted by a recent international study that was conducted using more than one-million learners.
The 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) results were released in Pretoria this week.
They revealed that only 19% of South African Grade 4 pupils could read for meaning in any language in 2021.
READ: How to encourage your child to read
The study was conducted over 1 127 877 Grade 4 pupils, and 914 000 could not read for meaning in any language, reports News 24. Another study done in 2016 by PIRLS paints the same picture that South Africa has a reading problem. 78% of Grade 4s could not read for meaning in the 2016 study.
Here are the results of the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), with Singapore scoring the highest and South Africa scoring the lowest:
1. Singapore
2. Hong Kong SAR
3. Russian Federation
4. Kosovo
5. Brazil
6. Jordan
7. Egypt
8. South Africa.
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Image courtesy of iStock/ @diignat