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Save the Children South Africa and Nal’ibali partner for Literacy Week Literacy holds the key for education and employment success. In 2016 we saw that 78% of Grade 4s could not read for meaning in South Africa in any language. This situation is further deteriorating by additional factors coming into play. We know that children are currently experiencing up to a year of learning losses due to school disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional compounding factors include civil unrest, damage to schools, and destruction to libraries as we have recently seen in KwaZulu-Natal. The implication of this is that our children have less opportunities to boost their literacy.

We have failed to protect the right of every child to an education. We are in an education emergency. Save the Children calls on all parties to immediately focus on Saving our Education.

We are facing an education emergency. Save the Children is calling on all parties to the violence in South Africa to cease immediately damaging and destroying schools, so that children can return to school once COVID-19 lockdowns are over.

South Africa: Save the Children calls for greater protection of children as violence spreadsPretoria, South Africa, 13 July 2021: Save the Children is gravely concerned about the safety of children during the civil unrest in South Africa following the reported killing of a 15-year-old boy in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, among the protesters.

South Africa is currently experiencing extreme public violence, and everyone is trying to make sense of this. Some blame the jailing of our former President, Jacob Zuma. Others point to Covid-19 lockdown restrictions that have exacerbated high unemployment and food insecurity. Still others bemoan a lack of law and order. But we should be asking ‘what does all of this mean for children, and the future of our country?’

Save the Children is gravely concerned about the safety of children during the civil unrest in South Africa following the reported killing of a 15-year-old boy in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, among the protesters.

Save the Children South Africa (SCSA) is dismayed to learn of the incident in which an Eastern Cape mother allegedly sold her newborn twins for R50 a day to support a drug addiction. As this case was brought to the attention of authorities through a tip-off, SCSA also applauds the community for its awareness and action.

In the past few months there has been a recurrence of protests across South Africa’s universities over free education. We see the headlines; we hear the voices on the news. I am in no way diminishing the importance of this topic but I do want to draw our attention to those that are unseen and unheard. Those who do not get to protest. Those who are not eligible for university entry because they got lost from the education system along the way.

April 30 marks the International Day of Action to End All Corporal Punishment of Children. As part of building global momentum to end all forms of violence against children (as captured in Sustainable Development Goal 16.2), Save the Children South Africa (SCSA), alongside the End Violence Global Partnership, is encouraging individuals, government, and organisations to commit to ending corporal punishment against children. In South Africa, corporal punishment is already prohibited by law both in the school and home settings. However, it is still practiced in some of our schools and homes.