Read Education Trust to celebrate Freedom Day through reading activities

Read Education Trust will be celebrating the annual Freedom Day through reading activities with children in various parts of South Africa on 25 May.

Lizelle Langford, public relations and fundraising manager at Read Educational Trust, said this day is about far more than liberation.

According to Langford, the day is about the freedom to learn, the freedom to explore and be educated, and at the very core, it is about access to reading and literacy.

Read’s reason for being has always been to bring change to the lives of disadvantaged children in South Africa through education, she said.

“Sadly, after 38 years since the organisation’s inception, we still see the majority of youngsters being negatively impacted by a range of social and economic inequalities,” said Langford.

“These children in predominantly rural areas face a childhood of adversity. There is inadequate access to healthcare, education, social services and quality nutrition. This has undermined the development of these children, resulting in significant deficits that limit educational progress.”

This limited progress was highlighted in the International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) report, released in December 2017.

Langford said a staggering 80 per cent of South African Grade 4 youngsters cannot read with comprehension.

She said South Africa’s average score is 261 points below countries like The Russian Federation, Singapore, and Ireland.

“This difference represents six school years – meaning that our Grade 8 children, entering secondary education, are reading at the same level as Grade 2 children in these countries.

“Our top achievers are at the same mean level score as the lowest 25 per cent performing countries.”

The manager said over the past five years, our children, including the top achievers, have not progressed at all adding that rural children are three years below their urban counterparts.

She said Read has successfully addressed some of these issues over the years through the implementation of Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes.

According to Langford, the only way to succeed is for a government, non-profit organisations, big business and private individuals to stand together and do all they can to combat illiteracy by actively promoting and funding reading and educational incentives.

Details: Lizelle Langford 011 236 8655.