Imagine a 25% boost to our per capita GDP – at a time when we can barely manage 1% per annum. This is the kind of economic growth we could start to expect if all South Africans were sufficiently literate to participate in the formal economy.^[1]M. Gustafsson, S. Van der Berg, D. Shepherd and C. Burger. 2010. The costs of illiteracy in South Africa. Access here. Put differently, if we don’t improve literacy in South Africa, it costs us approximately R550-billion each year. Even just half that benefit would equal the national public spending on basic education!^[2]Engle P, Fernald L, Alderman H, Behrman J, O’Gara C, Yousafazi A, de Mello M, Hidrobo M, Ulkuer N, Ertem I, and the Global Child Development Steering Group (2011). Strategies for reducing inequalities and improving developmental outcomes for young children in low-income and middle-income countries. The Lancet 378:1339-1359.

A fully literate nation could boost the size of our GDP by 25%.

Language development – through interaction with parents, reading and storytelling – is what drives achievement in both literacy and Maths. Numerous studies show the link between pre-school language attainment and the ability to learn in school.^[3]Sénéchal M, Ouellette G, Rodney D. The misunderstood giant: On the predictive role of vocabulary to reading. In: Neuman SB, Dickinson D, eds. Handbook of early literacy research. vol 2. New York, NY: Guilford Press; 2006: 173-182.

But reading is not just about doing well at school and promoting economic growth. The ability to read and comprehend enables social cohesion and innovation by building empathy, critical thinking and
imagination.^[4]Nussbaum M (2010): Not for Profit: Why democracy needs the humanities, Princeton University Press.