A recently released report that describes the reading abilities of South Africa’s youth is, to put it mildly, alarming. At the Cape Flats Book Festival, strategies for dealing with the situation were discussed.
As shocking statistics about youth reading levels have been disclosed, South Africa’s school system continues to struggle with its literacy rate.
According to the 2016 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), about 78% of Grade 4 learners cannot read with understanding or for meaning.
Some of the reasons for this worrying figure include an apparent “low appetite for reading”, resulting in this current illiteracy crisis.
At the Cape Flats Book Festival, hosted at West End Primary School in Mitchell’s Plain, a number of South Africa’s successful poets, authors, and scholars exchanged a few notes on how to combat the situation.
The Book Festival, created by scholar and author Athol Williams and his literacy organization Read To rising, hosted more than 30 sessions with various authors, poets, and publishers, over a two-day period.
Young people and adults who attend the festival are expected to leave motivated, thrilled, and inspired to read new books and possibly even write their own stories.
“Since these festivals are often held in affluent neighborhoods, we reasoned, “Why not organize our own Festival on the Cape Flats?” With the hope that they would one day write their own tale, we want to provide our people this chance to interact with renowned authors and publishing houses “Roscoe Williams, Athol Williams’ brother and co-founder of the Book Festival, remarked.
Teachers, authors, and academics in attendance at the Festival have proposed “read the room,” a program aimed at reducing the high rates of illiteracy among young people.
