Rahima Essop speaks to SAfm host Stephen Grootes about the relationship between learning losses, disengagement and dropout as the school winter break is brought forward this year.
According to the results of Wave 4 of the NIDS-CRAM survey, in 2020 primary school children learnt roughly a quarter of what they could have learnt for Home Language, and roughly half of what they could have learnt for English as First Additional Language, based on assessments of their reading outcomes.
Without the foundational reading skills to grasp the curriculum, many learners become disengaged and drop out before completing matric.