It is estimated that nearly 8 out of 10 Grade 4 students in South Africa cannot read for comprehension in any language. The ability to read and comprehend text is one of the most critical skills for children to develop. It is a cornerstone of education that sets the stage for lifelong learning and has a direct impact on the child’s future quality of life.

According to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) study of 2021, South Africa's score dropped from 320 points in 2016 to 288 in 2021. This is far lower than the PIRLS average of 500 points. The report also states that 61% of Brazilian Grade 4s could read at a basic level compared to 19% in South Africa, which puts the average Brazilian Grade 4 child three years ahead of their South African counterparts. In 2006, the percentage of children who could not read at the required level was at 87%, which decreased to 82% in 2011 and to 78% in 2016 but has now increased back to 81% (2021). Essentially, this indicates that a decade of progress was lost.

Due to the shortage of teachers and lack of resources, classes may be very large, and therefore, attending to each child’s personal reading journey may be challenging. To assist educators, ItCognify has developed the ReadITWrite platform, which allows educators to quickly generate new comprehension homework and classwork (with accompanying questions) by leveraging generative Artificial Intelligence techniques. These comprehension sets can be customised to fit each child’s needs and provide helpful hints to the teacher on how to explain difficult concepts in different ways or how to present the lesson in a fun and interactive way. Furthermore, the child can interact with the comprehension text directly by asking clarifying questions to the virtual assistant - thereby achieving the individual attention they need to excel.