South African Kids Can’t Read – Government Report

South Africa’s reading crisis among young children has been laid bare by the 2025 Funda Uphumelele National Survey, released by the Department of Basic Education (DBE). According to the DBE it is the first nationally and provincially representative dataset measuring reading outcomes in the first years of formal schooling, across all languages, against official benchmarks.

The results are stark. Only 30% of Grade 1 to 3 learners are reading at the expected level for their grade in their home language. Socio-economic status plays an important role. Grade 3 learners in Quintile 5 schools (the richest 20% of schools) are almost three times more likely to meet the home language benchmark than their peers in Quintile 1 schools (the poorest 20% of schools).

But even then, learners in Quintile 5 schools still perform poorly – only 60% of Grade 3 learners in the richest 20% of schools meet the expected reading grade benchmark.

Most concerning is that 15% of Grade 3 learners cannot read a single word correctly. For children with Pedi or Tsonga as their home language that figure rises to 25%.

Language also plays a role, with children being taught English at a home language level performing the best.

For Grade 3 learners being taught English at a home language level, 48% met the grade benchmark. For Venda speakers 33% met the grade benchmark, 31% of Zulu speakers, 27% of Swati speakers, 26% of Afrikaans speakers, 26% of Tswana speakers, 19% of Xhosa speakers, 18% of Sotho speakers, 16% of Tsonga speakers, 14% of Ndebele speakers, and 11% of Pedi speakers.

There are signs of urgency. Six provinces are now implementing evidence-based reading interventions at scale, the report says. Four provinces have launched large programmes in 2025 and 2026, often in tandem with donor partnerships such as Float, a collaborative initiative aimed at enhancing literacy and numeracy outcomes for learners in Grades R-3 with the help of philanthropic funders. The Basic Education Employment Initiative has also deployed 57 000 teaching assistants focused on helping children to read, called “Reading Champions”, to support foundation phase learners.

But the report warns that national planning documents no longer reference reading as explicitly as before, folding it into broader educational skills goals. It warns that without restoring reading as a clear national priority backed by coherent strategy and funding, provincial gains may remain fragmented and too small to shift outcomes at scale.