Recently published in the “Opinionistas” section on the Daily Maverick news portal – read Zenex Foundation CEO Gail Campbell’s opinion piece about what The Foundation believes is a core priority for President Cyril Ramaphosa to implement in order to ensure he can achieve his goal announced at SONA. During his address, he stated that is goal is to ensure that within a decade, every 10 year old in South Africa will be able to read with meaning. Campbell outlines some points to address the nation’s literacy crisis, and some recommendations have been provided too.
Click here to read the full article on Daily Maverick
Extract from article:
President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for a ‘massive reading campaign’. This is a laudable call, but it’s worth asking: How can we ensure this campaign is successful?
In his State of the Nation Address on 20 June 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa emphasised the importance of ensuring that all South African children learn to read.
He said, “If we are to ensure that within the next decade, every 10-year-old will be able to read for meaning, we will need to mobilise the entire nation behind a massive reading campaign. Early reading is the basic foundation that determines a child’s educational progress, through school, through higher education and into the workplace”.
“All other interventions – from the work being done to improve the quality of basic education to the provision of free higher education for the poor, from our investment in TVET colleges to the expansion of workplace learning – will not produce the results we need unless we first ensure that children can read.”
