Low literacy remains a significant challenge in South Africa, with recent studies highlighting concerning trends. The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study has shown that 81% of South African 10-year-olds cannot read with comprehension. This result underscores the urgent need for effective literacy improvement interventions.
On Tuesday, 28 January 2025, the CSIR will host a webinar to provide expert insights into South Africa’s current literacy data, introduce the CSIR’s speech and text technologies application as a digital solution and outline plans to pilot this technology in different provinces across the country, especially in disadvantaged schools. This project, funded by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, is called Ngiyaqonda! (isiZulu for “I understand”).