A Practical Response to South Africa’s Literacy and Numeracy Gaps
Teach360 Optimi | ACSI Service Provider
South Africa’s latest literacy findings have again placed the spotlight on the country’s foundational learning crisis. New data shows that too many children are entering the later grades without the reading skills they need to engage with the curriculum and succeed academically.
The Department of Basic Education’s Funda Uphumelele National Survey found that 70% of learners in Grades 1 to 3 cannot read at the expected level in their home language. The survey assessed 27,800 learners across 710 schools nationally, with only 30% demonstrating grade-appropriate home-language reading ability.
These national figures do not describe every school or determine any child’s future. They do, however, show why schools need to identify learning gaps early and respond before those gaps become entrenched.
“Literacy and numeracy are the tools learners use to access almost every other part of the curriculum,” says Louise Schoonwinkel, Chief Commercial Officer at Optimi, of which Teach360 is a registered trademark. “When a child struggles to read instructions or interpret basic numerical information, the impact follows them into science, geography, technology and everyday decision-making.”
Reading and mathematical literacy are also closely connected. A learner may understand a mathematical process but struggle to solve a word problem because the language is unfamiliar. Similarly, learners who can pronounce words accurately may still be unable to identify the central idea of a passage or explain what they have read.
The first step for schools is therefore to diagnose specific skills rather than relying only on an overall mark. In reading, teachers can examine fluency, vocabulary and comprehension separately. In mathematics, they can look at number sense, place value, operations, fractions and problem-solving. This helps teachers to distinguish between a learner who requires further explanation and one who primarily needs more focused practice.
Short, regular practice sessions can be more effective than waiting for a formal intervention period. Schools could introduce 15 to 20 minutes of targeted literacy or mathematics practice several times a week. Learners can be grouped according to the skill they are developing, with the groups reviewed as progress is made. This avoids attaching permanent labels to children.
Digital tools can support this process when they are used with clear educational purpose. CAMI, available through Teach360, includes adaptive exercises in mathematics, reading, literacy and perceptual skills.
CAMI provides a suite of computer-aided learning programmes designed to strengthen foundational and subject-specific skills through structured, repeated practice. CAMI Mathematics supports the development of numeracy and mathematical understanding, while CAMI Reader and CAMI Literacy focus on reading and language development. The suite also includes a Perceptual Skills Builder and a mathematics programme for learners with special educational needs. Exercises adjust according to each learner’s performance and provide immediate explanations and detailed solutions, allowing teachers to identify areas requiring attention and offer more targeted support. CAMI is available in online and offline versions, making it suitable for different school environments and levels of connectivity.
CAMI also provides baseline assessments that schools can use to identify learners’ existing skills, pinpoint learning gaps and guide targeted support.
“Technology is most valuable when it gives the teacher better information,” says Schoonwinkel. “A programme may show that a learner repeatedly struggles with fractions or reading comprehension, but it remains the teacher who interprets that information, provides encouragement and decides what support should follow.”
A practical four-week cycle can help schools turn information into action. The first week can be used to establish a baseline and identify one priority skill for each learner. Weeks two and three can focus on guided teaching and repeated practice. During the fourth week, teachers can reassess the skill, review the results and decide whether the learner is ready to progress or needs a different explanation.
For schools, this approach aligns with a commitment to recognise the dignity and God-given potential of every learner. Data should never reduce a child to a score. It should help educators see where support is needed and respond with patience, wisdom and care.
“Our goal should be steady, visible progress,” Schoonwinkel concludes. “When schools combine sound teaching, purposeful practice and personal encouragement, learners begin to experience difficulty as something they can work through, rather than as proof that they cannot succeed.”
