Mammoth task to get children to read
ON MONDAY, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga told schoolchildren in Midrand, “Love books like you love your mothers, we want you to love reading.”
Most of us would agree with this admirable sentiment. But how exactly are our children to do so?
The Basic Education Department’s own evaluation unit has found that 13% of our 11-year-olds, who have had five years of schooling, are still illiterate. Other studies, such as the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls), put this figure even higher.
There are many factors contributing to this, including poor infrastructure, the legacy of the apartheid education system, and insufficiently qualified teachers. But one of the reasons for our woeful literacy levels is that millions of pupils in South Africa simply have no access to books.
The same Pirls study found that three in 10 South African pupils are in classrooms with no library or reading corner. The lack of even basic textbooks for most pupils is well documented.
Where are they going to get storybooks, picturebooks or adventure stories – in other words, books to spark a love of reading?
In the course of my work, I meet students of all ages who have never owned a book in their lives. Not one. How can we hope to turn our literacy rate around in these circumstances?
What we know about reading is simple. Pupils who start reading young, and who practise reading regularly, are better readers – and do better all round in school.
With access to good books and reading materials, a child can both improve their literacy, and develop a habit of reading that will last a lifetime.
Without books, no pupil can hope to become even minimally literate, never mind enjoy reading.
The NPO I founded, The Bookshelf Project, was born out of conversations with children’s centres and schools in South Africa’s underprivileged areas.
In these conversations it became clear that limited access to books was one of the main barriers to literacy.
We collect books and build bookshelves, and deliver them to community centres and schools who have shown both the capacity and commitment to use the bookshelves to their best advantage.
Many other organisations in South Africa are doing excellent work to try and bridge the reading gap, including Room to Read and Nal’ibali.
The government’s Kha Ri Gude Mass Literacy Campaign, run in all of the country’s 11 languages, is also to be applauded.
But if South Africa is to truly foster a reading culture, much more needs to be done.
Last month, Minister Motshekga called attention to research showing only 15% of South Africans read regularly.
This is a call that all of us can rally behind. Donate your books, time, or funds. Lobby your local education department. Raise your voice, and help fill school shelves with books that will bring joy, happiness, hope, passion and curiosity.
Otherwise, we are condemning our children to a life of illiteracy or very low literacy. This stunts their chances of finding work, cuts off opportunities for further education and means they will struggle to navigate most aspects of ordinary life.
As Motshekga also said on Monday, “Children who read, lead”. Every child deserves this chance. Christopher Dykes is the director of The Bookshelf Project