Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
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Children’s champion: Rosemary Kashaka runs an afterschool tutoring class in Soshanguve, but takes no payment . (Delwyn Verasamy)
EDUCATION

School dropout Rose Kashaka’s passion for education

Poverty forced her to drop out of school in Zimbabwe, but now she is helping children in her neighbourhood learn to read and write

  • Bongekile Macupe
6 min read
Along with the benefit of spending regular time with your children, this activity supports healthy brain development. (Oupa Nkosi/M&G)
LITERACY

Every child deserves to be read aloud to

Of paramount importance is the enjoyment of reading, a responsibility that not only rests on the shoulders of educators, but also of parents

  • Staff Reporter
2 min read
Recent international studies have shown that 78% of grade 4 children in South Africa are not able to read with understanding, even when they read in their own language. (Madelene Cronje/M&G)
ADULT ILLITERACY

How you can be part of the solution to our literacy crisis

It is not a problem government can solve alone — individuals can also contribute resources and their time

  • Rory Carroll in Caracas
  • Shelley Ocarroll 1
9 min read
Continuously increasing state expenditure on basic education has failed to address problems linked to the quality of education offered in many public schools. (Jacques Nelles)
MALUSI GIGABA

Better trained teachers will lead to economic transformation

The World Economic Forum’s Global Information Technology Report 2016, which ranks the quality of education in 139 countries, placed South Africa 137th

  • Staff Reporter
3 min read
Children and staff of the Mahlubimangwe Primary School in KwaZulu-Natal together with members of the Mandela Library Project in front of the school’s container library.
HERITAGE DAY

Children must be able to read with comprehension about their heritage

Literacy in South Africa has to improve if people are to have a better quality of life

  • Staff Reporter
4 min read
Heritage: Contralesa says giving people title deeds may tempt them to sell land that ‘is a national asset and not for sale’.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

South Africa’s reading crisis: Focus on the root cause, not the peripherals

Initiatives to tackle South Africa’s reading crisis must take the country’s realities into account

  • Staff Reporter
6 min read
Rather than undermine South Africa’s international reputation
EDUCATION

Foundation phase calls for new idea

The manner of testing children focuses on what they know and ignores their potential to learn

  • Joanne Hardman
5 min read
(Graphic: John McCann)
ACADEMIC LITERACY

Teach in first language, it’s the key to success

Switching to second-language teaching too early places pupils at a great disadvantage

  • Masennya Dikotla
7 min read
(John McCann/M&G)
LITERACY

Reading must be central to our lives

Reading, especially of African languages, is a complex, under-researched area undertaken by teachers and subject advisers who are ill-prepared

  • Godwin Khosa
4 min read
Almost 80% of grade 4 pupils failed to reach the low international benchmark for reading and comprehension for that grade.
NAL IBALI

We do have solutions for SA’s reading crisis

Several excellent projects could be expanded immediately — for a meagre R500-million a year

  • David Harrison
6 min read
Run away: The protest in Ivory Park
CENTRE FOR JUSTICE AND CRIME

Learning can’t prosper in a broken society

Social ills, plus the effect of poverty, are reflected in our schools and require redress at many levels

  • Clive W Kronenberg
10 min read
More than two-thirds of the world’s illiterate people are women. Working to change this can bring profound social and economic benefits. (Graphic: John McCann)
ILLITERACY

Literacy must start at infancy

Parents and early childhood educators are as vital as foundation phase teachers

  • Shelley Ocarroll 1
  • Rory Carroll in Caracas
6 min read