South Africa: The Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga, launched the One Million Storybooks Project in collaboration with the National Education Collaboration Trust at Hlalisanani Primary School in Tweefontein, Thembisile Hani Local Municipality this morning.
The project is an exercise to promote indigenous languages.
The promotion of indigenous languages has received the highest spotlight in the world from the United Nations’ UNESCO; hence September being the Heritage month, South Africa takes pride in its people, cultures, languages and heritage.
In addition to promoting heritage, culture and languages, the one million storybooks project gives learners the leverage to address the existing gaps with regard to the shortage of reading resources for pleasure in indigenous languages.
The focus is on primary school, foundation phase reading and formation.
The project also seeks to maximize reading through technology while at the same time extending reading resources to the home and other social spaces allowing parents and communities to embrace and interface with it in an effort to promote indigenous languages.
The project also heeds the Presidential call to have 10-year-olds able to read with understanding by 2030.
Eighteen schools from the Nkangala District were beneficiaries of the distributed books courtesy of the National Education Collaboration Trust.
The CEO of the National Education Collaboration Trust, Mr Godwin Khosa, pledged support for reading and encouraged learners to read a lot.
At least reading one book a month in collaboration with National Reading Coalition and the European Union. Some of the 189 entitled books will be distributed electronically through WhatsApp.
The launch event had the blessing of the Fene Traditional House, Ikosi VW Mahlangu, who appealed for teaching, learning and the promotion of reading. He was enthused by the love of indigenous languages and heritage.
Minister Motshekga made it clear that reading and writing should be made the order of the day in the teaching of lower grades.
She emphasized that reading, writing and numeracy should also be deliberate and fashionable to give learners a chance to read with understanding.
The Minister also appealed to all stakeholders, teachers and parents, in particular, to assist learners in developing the love and ability to read, write and count by allowing them to read and count for themselves or one another.
“For you to make kids read, you have to make them read and to make them write. You have to make them write. I am grateful to the NECT for allowing us to have an opportunity to have a reading campaign in our schools. This will make deliberate and conscious exercise to allow for remedial action for the benefit of our learners,” said Minister Motshekga.
Learners were given an opportunity to read books in their indigenous languages to conclude the day.
