NEWS, VIEWS & OTHER INTERESTING THINGS

High levels of literacy are essential for economic growth, prosperity and the sustainability of democracy and will ensure the sustainability of stability and society.  So said Mondli Makhanya in his presentation to the more than 120 stakeholders who came together this Literacy Day to talk about the importance of literacy to democracy and prosperity in South Africa.

Hosted over breakfast by Webber Wentzel, a panel headed by David Harrison of the DG Murray Trust and including Nick Taylor of the Joint Education Trust, Brahm Fleisch of the Wits School of Education and Mondli Makhanya of City Press highlighted the crucial need for collaboration, integration of efforts and rigorous evaluation of programmes to ensure we all work effectively to resolve South Africa’s literacy crisis.

Reflecting on the fact that for many children, the damage is evident by Grade 4 and is hard to recover from, we are acutely aware of how important the work of our volunteers and literacy tutors is in the early grades.  Perhaps most comforting is the belief, amongst all of the panel, that there is hope, that we are making progress and that we can overcome this challenge in the years to come.