South Africa’s reading crisis is tightening its grip on the youngest learners. A new 2030 Reading Panel report released this week found that 15% of Grade 3 pupils cannot decode even a single word by the end of their third year of formal schooling.

The same report says only 30% of pupils in Grades 1 to 3 are reading at grade level in their home language. The data has not shifted much, suggesting that current efforts are not moving the needle fast enough.

Grade 4 Warning Lights are Flashing

The report also highlights the scale of the problem beyond the foundation phase. It states that, in 2025, 81% of Grade 4 learners could not read for meaning in any language.

That matters because Grade 4 is where reading is meant to become a tool for learning other subjects. If learners are still struggling to understand text at that point, every other subject becomes harder too, from maths word problems to natural sciences.

Provinces Show a Sharp Divide

The panel’s findings point to major provincial gaps in how Grade 3 pupils perform against home language benchmarks. The Western Cape was listed at 43% and KwaZulu-Natal at 40%. Gauteng was at 37%. Limpopo was the lowest at 19% while the Eastern Cape was at 22%.

The report also notes severe language-based difficulties, including that 89% of Grade 3 pupils could not read in Sepedi, 69% could not read in isiZulu and 67% were unable to read in Tshivenda.

What the Panel and DBE Want Next

Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube said the data confirms learning gaps start in the foundation phase, not later in a learner’s school career. She also said literacy remains central to the department’s plans, including early childhood development and mother tongue-based bilingual education.

The report proposes steps like universal standardised reading assessments, ring-fenced funding for reading interventions, stronger teacher preparation and guaranteed minimum reading resources in classrooms.