Grade 4 children in SA scored the lowest mark of 50 countries in the Progress in International Reading and Literacy Study released on Tuesday.

The literacy crisis in South Africa is far worse than previously thought, with 78% of Grade 4 learners unable to read, according to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) report released on Tuesday.
The international comparison study measured literacy levels between 2011 and 2016 and scored South Africa last in reading of the 50 participating countries.
In 2016, PIRLS tested 12,810 Grade 4 students from 293 schools across South Africa, in any of the 11 official languages they were most comfortable with.
Some 78 percent, or nearly eight out of 10, of Grade 4 students could not read for meaning. That is to say that they could not reach the low international PIRLS benchmark in reading. They could not locate and retrieve explicitly stated information or make straightforward inferences about events and reasons for actions.
Some 78 percent, or nearly eight out of 10, of Grade 4 students could not read for meaning.
Other findings, according to Nic Spaull, senior researcher at the ReSEP (Research on Socio-Economic Policy) at Stellenbosch University, are:
SA lags far behind other countries: While 78 percent of SA Grade 4 kids cannot read, in the U.S. this is only 4 percent and in England just 3 percent cannot read. The study included mostly high-income countries, but there were a number of middle-income countries such as Iran, Chile, Morocco, and Oman. In Iran, only 35 percent of Grade 4 students could not read for meaning and in Chile it was only 13 percent.
Some evidence of improvement in reading 2006 to 2011, but stagnant since 2011: The only good news coming out of PIRLS 2016 is that there may have been significant improvements in reading between 2006 and 2011.

This comparison seems to suggest quite a significant increase in reading scores between 2006 and 2011. Unfortunately, no evidence of improvement between 2011 and 2016.SA gender gap in reading second highest in the world: Girls score much higher than boys in reading across the board. In Grade 4, girls are a full year of learning ahead of boys. This gender gap is the second largest among all 50 countries that participated — only Saudi Arabia’s is higher.