The minister of Basic Education emphasises the need to build reading comprehension skills.

VAAL TRIANGLE - Basic Education minister Angie Motshekga has emphasised the need to focus on building reading comprehension skills in the early years. She highlighted that many primary schools have neglected reading for comprehension in the foundation phase. South Africa’s education system had been further impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, with only 19-percent of Grade 4 learners able to read for meaning, a decline from 2016. Motshekga acknowledges the challenges faced by the education system and the lack of concrete evidence on effective interventions.