School still in session for some children in Cape Town to improve their reading skills

CAPE TOWN - School is still in session for some orphaned children as Cape Town initiatives use the school holidays to improve reading skills.

While school may be out, youth centers and orphanages across the city say it can't be pens down amid a drop in literacy skills in the country.

A 2030 reading panel report released earlier this year found that reading among primary school pupils is alarmingly low - - with only 20 percent of grade 3 pupils meeting the reading standards.

An initiative run by the junior City Council's junior speaker Mizero Hope Munyandekwe is among the latest efforts to improve reading and writing skills among children aged between 5 and 12.

"So we have our group reading sessions where we will have or assign team members to formulate groups among the children and they will take turns to basically have an idea of what is going to be read to them and then they will proceed with reading and then after that the children can ask and answer questions they have based on the book.”

She said that through these exercises and reading times, children will also develop confidence and essential communication skills.

"The second thing we do is writing reviews and drawing. So, this is usually for our younger audiences the drawing part, but these activities help them get comfortable with a pen and paper approach to expressing or writing down what they've picked up from our reading session.”