Schools ready for midyear exams — but SA’s grade 4s fall hopelessly short

At least 10 Eastern Cape schools have been prioritised for infrastructure upgrades and the building of new hostels. This was announced on the same day it was revealed that grade 4 pupils in SA have come last out of 57 countries in an international assessment on reading.  The results of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls), released by the department of basic education on Tuesday, revealed local pupils had achieved an average score of just 288, significantly below th...