The Minister of Basic Education Motshekga is in denial about reading crisis.

The DA notes Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga’s commentary history, minimizing the horrifying Progress in International Reading knowledge Study( PIRLS) results, which revealed that only 1 in 5 grade 4 learners could read for meaning.

It’s distressing that the Minister and her Department fail to realise the travesty of nine and 10- time- pasts that can not understand what the letters on the runner and the sounds they makemean.However, you can not read, If you don’t understand what you’re reading.

The Minister has also constantly failed to address the fact that 56 of grade 6 learners can not read for meaning at a grade 4 position.

Despite the DA’s multitudinous requests, the Minister has not handed calculated reading or catch- up plans. Only the Western Cape has calculated for and tabled catch- up and reading plans – R1.2 billion in total, with R111 million for reading particularly in isiXhosa and Afrikaans seminaries.

further than 69 of South African seminaries don’t have libraries, according to the last National Education structure operation System( NEIMS) report. Of the 30 of seminaries that do have libraries, only 17 are grazed, which basically pushes the number of libraries down to a bare 14.

While the DA supports a total of community approach to addressing the country’s colorful problems, parents and communities can not shoulder the burden of tutoring learners how to read in the first place and understand what they read also.

The Minister did still indicate that learners who entered their education in their mama lingo achieved better results than those learning in a alternate language. Given the fact that this has formerly again been demonstrated, it seems unfathomable that the Minister and her Department would push for the perpetration of the Basic Education Laws Amendment( BELA) Bill, which seeks to minimise the involvement of parents and communities in their children’s education by disempowering academy governing bodies( SGBs) from making admission and language programs for their seminaries and could be used to target mama lingo seminaries.

It’s time the Minister took the education of children seriously – condemning the Covid- epidemic only accounts for a bit of the problems. Her neglect is stealing them of vital foundational chops pivotal for their futures. However, she should simply abdicate, If Minister Motshekga can’t turn the situation around.