The baseline study done by non-profit education organisation Funda Wande revealed that 90% of grade 2 pupils could not answer an interpretive question about a passage they had read.
The report further revealed that almost half of the grade 2 pupils in the province could not read a single word – and 52% of grade 1s could not identify the sound of even one letter. Nombamba Primary School principal Baninzi Mampofu told The Herald that he had noticed a difference in the pupil's interest in reading sincecame to our school and trained five of our teachers, who we call 'The Big 5', on how to narrate stories using the supplement that they send to our school.
"They also brought a 'hanging library'. The books hang like one would hang shoes so that children have access to books and then they make summaries of the books. "Compared with older grades, which were not exposed to this teaching, there is quite a big difference in their comprehension generally and the project is making a serious impact on the pupils learning capabilities," Mampofu said.