React: Reducing the educational achievement gap through community-led technology

Addressing the challenge

Although central to cultural identity and social cohesion, South Africa’s languages remain under-researched and under-resourced. The lack of culturally appropriate language development tools, limited child language data, and insufficient language-based interventions contribute to the widening educational achievement gap between children from affluent households and those from under-resourced communities.

By focusing on the critical early years (0 to 3 years), React aims to address this challenge at its root, empowering families, caregivers, and communities to actively participate in nurturing language growth and literacy development through accessible, locally grounded solutions.

A vision aligned with SADiLaR’s mission

React was initiated by the Child Language Development Node of the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) in collaboration with the Division of Computer Science at Stellenbosch University, the CSIR and early child language development experts and non-governmental organisations working in communities across South Africa. The project is funded by the Spencer Foundation through its Vision Grant to develop this major plan for early language development intervention.

React stands in strong alignment with SADiLaR’s mission to develop, support, and distribute digital resources and technologies for all South African languages. As part of the South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap (SARIR), SADiLaR plays a vital role in enabling the digitisation of linguistic data and the advancement of human language technologies for equitable access and innovation.

Through React, SADiLaR’s commitment to promoting multilingualism, digital inclusion, and the preservation of linguistic diversity takes tangible form. The project’s community-driven approach directly supports SADiLaR’s vision of building capacity for multilingual futures, where every language is digitally visible, accessible, and empowered to contribute to educational and technological advancement.

The React approach

React brings together a multidisciplinary team of experts from across sectors (linguistics, early childhood development, computer science, and community engagement) to co-design interventions that are scientifically grounded, culturally relevant, and sustainably community driven.

The project will begin by focusing on two closely related major languages of isiXhosa and isiZulu as initial pilot communities, working in collaboration with early childhood development NGOs and community-based organisations to co-create language-strengthening systems that can later be scaled to other South African languages.

At the heart of this initiative is the use of human language technologies and large language models to digitise and analyse early childhood language data, enabling accurate, evidence-based interventions while building digital resources that contribute to South Africa’s growing linguistic infrastructure.

Collaborative power: Partners in transformation

The React consortium unites some of South Africa’s foremost institutions and advocates in language development and technology:

• Prof. Heather Brookes and Prof. Frenette Southwood, Child Language Development Node, Stellenbosch University
  
• Prof. Bill Tucker and Dr Marcel Dunaiski, Computer Science Division, Stellenbosch University
  
• Dr Laurette Marais, Speech Processing Node, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
  
• Prof. Langa Khumalo, SADiLaR
  
• Dr Shelley O’Carroll, Hold My Hand
  
• Dr Nicki Dawson, Ububele

Together, they are building a bridge between linguistic research, community development, and digital innovation by turning knowledge into action.

Technology meets community

React is not simply about technology; it is about empowerment. By partnering with NGOs working to support caregivers of young children, and engaging with parents, caregivers, community healthcare workers, and educators in the co-design of language measurement and intervention tools, the project ensures that solutions are created with and for communities.

This collaborative design ensures that interventions respect cultural norms, language practices, and local contexts while drawing on existing examples of best practice in supporting caregivers, scientific insights and digital resources to enhance early language outcomes.

Driving systems change

Together with SADiLaR’s national network and partnerships with government departments, advocacy groups, and national initiatives such as Accelerator Hold My Hand, React is positioned to inform policy development and systemic transformation in South Africa’s early childhood development sector.

By integrating human language technologies into the early childhood development ecosystem, React contributes to a sustainable model of language development that supports both education policy reform and technological infrastructure advancement. These are key pillars of SADiLaR’s broader mission to embed language technology in national development strategies.

A model for multilingual futures

The development of the project is planned to begin in January 2026. React aspires to become a blueprint for language development in other under-resourced linguistic communities across South Africa and beyond. The project also aims to demonstrate how digital innovation, when guided by community insight and cultural integrity, can transform the trajectory of early education.

With React, SADiLaR’s vision of 'Building Capacity for Multilingual Futures' comes vividly to life, showing how inclusive, community-led research and technology can reduce educational inequities, preserve linguistic heritage, and empower generations of young learners to thrive in their mother tongues.