South Africa
Our work in South Africa
Since 2023, Youth Impact has been working with the South African Department of Basic Education and provincial governments to localise and scale targeted instruction approaches for foundational skills at primary-school level.
10,000 students
2 provinces
200 facilitators & teachers trained
Context
Most grade 5 students in South Africa are at least two years behind grade level in mathematics. As children progress, they do not catch up. South African 9th graders scored 38 out of 39 countries participating in the 2019 TIMSS study. Similarly, by Grade 4, 82% of students cannot read for meaning, highlighting a deepening literacy crisis. To help address this, the South African Basic Education Sector Plan lists increasing foundational skills of numeracy and literacy as one of the priority areas.
The intervention
TaRL Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) improves foundational numeracy and literacy outcomes in primary school children. Instead of grouping students by age or grade, TaRL uses fun techniques to teach them at the level they are currently at, ensuring every child gets the instruction they need to succeed.
Spotlight
In South Africa, we are expanding TaRL through innovative partnerships. Through the Presidential Youth Employment Scheme, we are mobilizing education assistants to support classroom delivery. At the same time, we are partnering with local organizations to strengthen skills, build data systems, and enhance school-level support. Demand is strong, with more than 100 local organizations expressing interest in adapting TaRL in their own contexts.
Government partnership
We have an agreement in place with South Africa’s Department of Basic Education, where we work closely with the Research Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate. We also have an agreement to scale approaches with the North West Provincial Government, where we ran our successful pilot and are currently scaling up.
