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The Star
04-05-2025
- General
- The Star
No books, no future: The cost of neglecting early childhood literacy
Deb Zelezniak | Published 2 hours ago Can a nation thrive if its youngest citizens grow up without books? The answer should be obvious. Yet in South Africa, more than 40% of households have no books at all. The situation is just as troubling within early childhood development (ECD) centres, where 61% have fewer than 10 books available, and only 56% provide age-appropriate reading materials across different age groups. Access to books in early childhood is not a 'nice-to-have' - it's the very foundation of all future learning and development. But we are failing our children - a fact made painfully clear by the now all-too-familiar statistics: 80% of Grade 3 learners cannot read for meaning, and the country ranked last out of 57 nations in the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) . Behind these numbers are millions of children growing up without the most basic tools for learning - not just books, but the chance to hear stories and connect words to ideas. This lack of exposure robs them of far more than literacy: it stunts their cognitive, emotional, and psychosocial development. Children who miss out on these foundational experiences are more likely to fall behind academically, drop out of school, and face greater vulnerability to poverty and economic exclusion later in life. No one expects a child under five to read independently. But this vital developmental window - from birth to five - is when children learn how to learn. They must begin to explore books, listen to stories, and recognise that symbols on a page represent sounds, meanings, and imaginative worlds far beyond their own. These early encounters with books build essential life skills, from critical thinking and emotional regulation to numeracy, empathy, problem-solving, and creativity. As importantly, they nurture a lifelong love of reading. Without this foundation, children begin their academic journey at a disadvantage. For many, that gap only widens as they move through the system. Book Dash notes that even a single book can dramatically improve a child's school readiness compared to peers who have none. The good news is that this is a solvable problem. Civil society is already responding. Organisations like the Santa Shoebox Project have installed more than 220 reading corners in ECD centres around South Africa, creating inviting, book-filled spaces where children can develop a positive association with reading. But these efforts, while impactful, are only scratching the surface. Scaling such solutions will require broader support, particularly from the government and the private sector. Encouragingly, the recent national budget speech included promises of increased support for the ECD sector. It's a step in the right direction, but also long overdue . Decades of underfunding mean that properly resourcing and registering ECD centres - let alone filling them with relevant, multilingual books – remains a major challenge. Whether this new funding will directly improve access to books is still unclear. If we're serious about addressing South Africa's literacy crisis, we must stop treating it as a problem that begins in school. It starts long before then. By ensuring every child has access to books from the earliest years, we can nurture not only readers but thinkers, dreamers, and doers. The building blocks are simple. The return on investment is life-changing. The time to act is now. Deb Zelezniak, CEO of the Santa Shoebox Project
The Citizen
01-05-2025
- General
- The Citizen
Zululand NPO's third annual spelling bee a success
Low literacy levels at South African schools are of great concern, with a large percentage of Grade 4 learners struggling to read for meaning. The 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) revealed that 81% of Grade 4 learners in South Africa could not read for meaning in any language, a figure that has been increasing since 2016. To address these concerns and commemorate World Book Day, the eSikhaleni-based Yenzakahle Foundation brought the power of words to the fore through its third annual Spelling Bee. ALSO READ: Education has no age limit, proves Thobile This initiative continues to grow in impact and attract more participants each year. The competition, which alternates annually between primary and high school learners, was established to not only spark a love for reading and literacy among young people, but also to provide a platform for academic excellence, confidence-building and community engagement. This year's instalment shone a light on primary school learners, who showcased their spelling prowess and passion for language in front of a lively audience. Yenzakahle Foundation founder Robin Sibisi said the event has become a much-anticipated highlight on the local calendar, uniting schools, parents and community members around the shared goal of empowering youth through education. 'We are incredibly proud to have hosted our third Spelling Bee. Each year, we see learners grow not just in vocabulary, but also in courage and public speaking. It's more than spelling, it's about opening minds,' said Sibisi. Sibisi attributed this event's success to the generous support of local businesses and Ward Councillor Siboniso Ntshangase, whose contributions and commitment to youth development made the day a resounding success. 'We are deeply grateful. Their support shows the power of partnerships in uplifting our communities. As the competition continues to rotate, the NPO hopes to keep building a culture of literacy, one word at a time,' she said. Don't have the ZO app? Download it to your Android or Apple device here: HAVE YOUR SAY Like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. For news straight to your phone invite us: WhatsApp – 060 784 2695 Instagram – zululand_observer At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Has US Education Dept impeded students? False claims by conservatives
Do American students really rank at the bottom of international comparisons and does the United States really spend more per pupil than any other country? Those are the false claims made by President Donald Trump and his backers to justify shutting the Department of Education. Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to close the department, which was created in 1979. While it cannot be shuttered without the approval of Congress, the department will likely be starved of funds and staff by the order. The Trump administration had already sought to gut the department in early March by shedding almost 1,800 jobs, or about half of its staff, which according to Education Secretary Linda McMahon would help "our scores go up." - Do US students really rank last? False - "No matter how you cut it, the US is not scoring at the bottom of the international rankings," Nat Malkus, senior fellow and the deputy director of education policy at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, told AFP. "The US ranks in the middle of the pack on most international assessments." Fifteen-year-old US students placed above average in reading and close to average in math on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test. Two other international tests, the PIRLS in 2021 for reading and the TIMSS in 2023 for science and mathematics, also place American kids within the average of the countries tested. National tests did show a drop off after 2019, but that was partly attributed to disruptions caused by Covid shutdowns, with similar patterns seen in other countries. But the picture is nowhere near as catastrophic as many of Trump's conservative supporters claim. Nationally, in 2024, 76 percent of fourth-grade students (ages 9-10) and 61 percent of eighth-grade students (ages 13-14) met or exceeded the expected baseline in mathematics, according to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results. In reading, they were 60 percent and 67 percent above the minimum, respectively. It is also false that students "have fallen behind" since the creation of the DoE, a claim made by Republican Representative Byron Donalds of Florida. For example, the average math proficiency of fourth-graders has increased by 24 points since 1990, and the average reading proficiency has not changed since 1992, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Malkus at the AEI said the "Department could improve how it supports US education" but cannot "be held responsible for student outcomes." - Highest cost per student in the world? False - Trump has claimed "we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, and we're ranked at the bottom of the list." He says his "dream" is to "move education into the states so that the states instead of bureaucrats working in Washington can run education" -- as proposed in the conservative "Project 2025" program that has guided the new administration. But that's already the case. Each US state runs its own education system, with the DoE primarily responsible for administering student loans offered by the federal government, assisting disadvantaged students and enforcing rights. While it does spend more per student than most countries, the United States ranked fifth in 2019 and sixth in 2021 in the OECD ranking for spending per primary and secondary student, far behind Luxembourg and Norway. And that spending is the responsibility of the states, with the federal government representing only about 13 percent of total funding. "In the US only 4 percent of total federal spending is devoted to education, compared to about 10 percent on average in the countries in the OECD," said Fernando Reimers, a Harvard professor specializing in international education. Several Democratic states, parents associations and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) have all filed appeals against the dismantling of the department. The AFT said in a press release that shutting the department will hurt "ten million students who rely on financial aid to go to college or pursue a trade" as well as "millions of students with disabilities and students living in poverty." mda/elc/gv/bfm
