{"id":852490,"date":"2026-03-01T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=852490"},"modified":"2026-03-01T08:05:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T06:05:21","slug":"the-one-province-in-south-africa-where-only-19-of-grade-3s-can-read-at-grade-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/852490\/the-one-province-in-south-africa-where-only-19-of-grade-3s-can-read-at-grade-level\/","title":{"rendered":"The one province in South Africa where only 19% of Grade 3s can read at grade level"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A new report from The 2030 Reading Panel shows that only 30% of learners in Grades 1 to 3 are reading at grade level in their home language, with Limpopo the worst-performing province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2030 Reading Panel is an independent group of South African leaders from civil society, business and government looking to address South Africa’s reading crisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panel aims to ensure that all South African children can read for meaning in their home language and in English by the age of 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new 2026 report, which draws on data from the Department of Basic Education\u2019s Funda Uphumelele National Survey (FUNS), highlights the challenges facing literacy in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only 30% of learners in Grades 1 to 3 are reading at grade level in their home language. In some cases, up to 25% of Grade 3 learners cannot read a single word. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the entire system, 15% of Grade 3 learners scored zero on reading assessments, meaning they cannot decode a single word by the end of their third year of formal schooling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can see the full picture of where South African children stand in the earliest, most critical years of learning,\u201d said former Deputy President Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who chairs the Panel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe data shows us the scale of the challenge and exactly where intervention is most urgent. Importantly, it also shows us where success is being achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report also shows differences among provinces, languages and socio-economic contexts, with learners in higher-income schools more likely to reach grade-level benchmarks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Limpopo, the percentage of Grade 3 learners meeting grade-level benchmarks is a mere 19%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report noted that learners who learn Sepedi are more likely to struggle to reach the benchmark reading level by Grade 3, with only 11% hitting the target. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other provinces that struggle to reach their required level by Grade 3 include the Eastern Cape (22%), Mpumalanga (23%), and Free State (23%). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best-performing province, the Western Cape, only scores 43%, highlighting the challenges facing South Africa’s literacy programmes. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Some interventions are in place<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While the statistics paint a grim picture, the panel noted that several provinces are looking into large-scale interventions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Change and improvements are happening. There has been significant progress since 2022, when no provinces were implementing large-scale, evidence-based reading interventions,” said the panel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Today, six of the nine provinces \u2013 the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape \u2013 are rolling out structured literacy programmes that reach 100,000s of learners.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These interventions share standard features, including structured lesson plans and aligned classroom materials, high-dosage teacher training, and systematic measurement of learner outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Western Cape is already the best-performing province for literacy, it is also introducing two additional hours of home language instruction per week to the foundation phase timetable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The province is also introducing standardised baseline assessments within the first 10 days of each school year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of concern, the worst-performing province, Limpopo, is not one of the six provinces rolling out structured literacy programmes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProvincial implementation of evidence-based reading programmes is expanding, but progress remains uneven and vulnerable without national policy alignment and sustained funding,\u201d said Dr Mlambo-Ngcuka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe know what works. What is needed now is a sustained national commitment to scale it.” <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Former Deputy President Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa’s literacy rates are appalling, with only 30% of Grade 1 to 3 learners reading at grade level. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":657783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[24886],"class_list":["post-852490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-2030-reading-panel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852490"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":852584,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852490\/revisions\/852584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}