Across the system, 15% of Grade 3 pupils scored zero on reading assessments.
Elisa Schu/picture alliance via Getty Images
Only three out of 10 pupils in Grades 1 to 3 can read at their grade level in their home languages.
In some languages, up to 25% of Grade 3 pupils can’t read a single word.
Across the system, 15% of Grade 3 pupils scored zero on reading assessments, “which means they are unable to decode even a single word by the end of their third year of formal schooling”.
This new national data was released by the 2030 Reading Panel in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
The panel’s 2026 report drew on nationally representative data on foundational reading skills across all South African languages and analysed data from the Department of Basic Education’s Funda Uphumelele National Survey (FUNS), which measured reading outcomes in Grades 1 to 4 in all home languages against national benchmarks for the first time.
Former deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who chairs the panel, said in the report that the data has shown the scale of the challenge “and exactly where intervention is most urgent”.
“Importantly, it also shows us where success is being achieved,” she said.
The report stated that the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal were the top-performing provinces.
More to follow.
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