KSD unveils R1.3m mobile library for schools
Eight-ton truck also brings laptops and connectivity
THE King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality has made its mobile library available to one of its worst-performing schools.
Mqanduli’s Gengqe Senior Secondary School recorded a dismal 14% matric pass rate last year.
This was a drastic drop from the 23% attained the previous year and the 45% it achieved in 2015.
KSD’s facility, purchased recently for R1.3-million, comes in the form of an eight-ton truck complete with five laptops and internet connectivity. It will visit Gengqe twice a week. Speaking at the unveiling of the mobile library in Gengqe village last week, KSD mayor Dumani Zozo said the initiative was part of an intervention to bring library services to schools in remote areas, which often struggle to access books.
An excited Gengqe principal, Zimasa Pantshwa, told the Daily Dispatch on Monday that up till now pupils had to scrape together R50 for travelling to town whenever they needed to access library services.
“They come from very poor backgrounds, where their families rely on social grants from the government,” Pantshwa said.
She is determined to inculcate a culture of reading among her pupils, and hopes that the mobile library will help improve the school’s matric results as well.
The chief of the village, Nkosi Zanothango Ndzingo, also lauded the gesture by KSD, saying it would change the lives of their children for the better.
He said the school had operated without a principal for two years until Pantshwa was appointed last month.
Zozo urged the pupils to make use of the mobile library as it was there to assist them with their studies.
“This facility alone will not make you pass but you have to be willing and make time to visit the library and focus on your studies,” he told them, adding that knowledge could empower people to become independent thinkers and to make better choices in life.
The municipality has also roped in Google to provide free digital skills to Gengqe pupils.
Google is already involved in the training of about 300 young people within the KSD municipal area.
Zozo has donated uniforms to 14 pupils from poor backgrounds.
He said the mobile library would visit the school twice a week, and it would also be visiting other schools around KSD that were far from library service centres.
“The municipality will draft a rotational schedule for schools laying out the dates of the visits,” Zozo added.
Wandile Ngceba, the Mqanduli branch secretary of the South African Democratic Teachers Union, also lauded KSD for getting involved in uplifting the standard of education in Gengqe, saying the union had long been calling on local municipalities to lend a helping hand.
He said Gengqe in particular had a high dropout rate which it was trying to reverse. It was also battling a shortage of teachers, which meant the present staff was overloaded with work.