**HEARING AND VISION: ** As South Africa grapples with a deepening education crisis, the authors state that a new study highlights the often-ignored significance of vision and hearing in shaping children’s learning experiences.
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Every time literacy results for children in South Africa are released, we question why our children are struggling to read for meaning.
The reasons that are often cited are overcrowded classrooms, underperforming schools, teachers who are stretched beyond their limits, poor school leadership and families who are struggling to support their children's learning at home.
All these challenges are real. Research conducted by the Centre for Social Development in Africa (CSDA) at the University of Johannesburg points to another issue that is often overlooked: can the child actually see and hear well enough to participate in the lesson?
Our CSDA study conducted in public schools around Johannesburg and Moutse in Limpopo found that 29% of children needed an eye and hearing assessment. This finding points to a significant but often overlooked gap in the way we identify some of the barriers that prevent children from learning. National data already tells us that South Africa has a serious challenge when it comes to children's learning outcomes, and the evidence around vision and hearing difficulties gives us another piece of the puzzle.
When problems with eyesight or hearing go undetected and untreated, they can affect how children participate in class, how they learn and even how they feel about themselves and their ability to keep up with their peers. These are therefore not simply health problems that sit somewhere outside the education system; they can directly shape a child's experience of school and their ability to benefit from the education they are receiving.
Identifying health problems that can affect children's ability to learn was recognised more than a decade ago through the Integrated School Health Policy, adopted in 2012. This joint policy by the Department of Health and Department of Education makes provision for routine health screenings at schools, including hearing, sight, weight, and general health. The reality, however, is that many children with hearing and vision impairments are still not being identified consistently. A major gap exists between policy intention and what is actually happening on the ground.
We see this not only with eye and hearing checks, but also when children's vaccinations are not up to date or when children who need psychosocial support are not referred for help. These may seem like separate issues, but they point to the same problem — if the services around a child are not connected, important needs can easily be missed.
Without eye and hearing assessments, early detection and intervention cannot occur. This compromises children's learning outcomes. Teachers are already working under enormous pressure and managing big classes. Without knowing that a child is struggling to see or hear, their behaviour may be interpreted as a lack of concentration, poor academic ability or even bad behaviour, when the real problem is much simpler: the child cannot properly access the lesson.
This is why the research makes such a strong case for schools to become one of the first places where vision and hearing difficulties are identified. Routine eye and hearing screening can help pick up problems much earlier, giving children a better chance of being referred for the care they need before these difficulties begin to have a more serious impact on their learning. But screening by itself is not enough.
We don't necessarily need another policy; what we need is to make sure the one we already have is actually working on the ground. The Integrated School Health Policy needs to be better implemented, with schools, health services and community organisations working more closely together. When a child is identified as having a problem with their sight or hearing, there should be a clear and simple process to make sure they get the help they need.
Otherwise, screening can end with the child being identified but nothing happening afterwards, leaving them to continue struggling in the classroom with a problem that could have been dealt with.
**SCREENING: ** Audiology and Optometry teams conducted comprehensive hearing and vision screenings at Trubel Primary School in Tongaat, expanding access to essential healthcare services for learners
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This is where the Communities of Practice model provides a useful way of thinking about what needs to happen next. This approach focuses on breaking down silos to bring different sectors and services together around the child, recognising that teachers, healthcare workers and community practitioners all have a role to play in identifying problems early and making sure children receive the support they need. It may sound like a simple idea, but bringing these different parts of a child's support system together can make a meaningful difference, particularly for children who are already facing other barriers to learning.
This becomes even more important in under-resourced communities, where accessing healthcare can come with costs that many families simply cannot afford. Taking a child for an eye test or hearing assessment may mean paying for transport, taking time off work or travelling a long distance to reach a clinic or specialist. For households already making difficult choices between food, electricity, school uniforms and other basic needs, even what might seem like a simple healthcare appointment can become another financial burden.
The research also reminds us that not every solution to South Africa's education challenges has to be expensive or complicated. We often talk about fixing education as though the only answers are massive policy reforms, new infrastructure or billion-rand budgets, and while those investments are undoubtedly important, sometimes a meaningful difference in one child's life can start with something much smaller — a routine eye test, a hearing screening, a referral to a clinic or a pair of glasses. These may seem like modest interventions when compared with the scale of South Africa's education crisis, but for one child they could mean the difference between years of frustration and finally being able to see the board, follow the teacher and participate confidently in class.
South Africa's education crisis will not be solved by eye and hearing screening alone, and nobody is suggesting that it will. We will still need better teaching, stronger schools, better support for teachers and greater investment in education, but making sure children can see, hear and participate fully in the learning process is a practical and high-impact intervention that can improve their life trajectories in the long run.
The Communities of Practice research gives us an opportunity to look beyond the usual explanations for why children fall behind and to pay attention to a gap that we can actually do something about. If we genuinely want every child to reach their potential, then we have to start by making sure they have the basic conditions they need to learn, and sometimes that may begin with something as simple as asking whether they can see and hear the lesson.
** Oliver Meth is Strategic Communications Consultant at the Centre for Social Development in Africa, University of Johannesburg.*
*** Professor Sadiyya Haffajee is Associate Professor & Director at the Centre for Social Development in Africa, University of Johannesburg.*
**** Professor Leila Patel is Emeritus Professor of Social Welfare & Development at the Centre for Social Development in Africa, University of Johannesburg.*
***** The views expressed by the writers do not necessarily represent those of IOL*
