Nali'bali's new literacy development initiative Story Powered Schools: A South African Reading Revolution, is set to empower pupils in the Eastern Cape’s most rural communities.
The national reading for enjoyment campaign has partnered with the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) to promote children’s literacy rights in rural schools.
It launched in January this year and aims to nurture a love for reading in English and home languages in the lives of pupils from Grades R to 5 in remote villages of Maluti and Bizana.
It’s the first time Nali’bali will introduce a programme to be integrated into school curriculums, and the plan is to reach 720 rural schools in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal by the end of 2020.
The programme aims to provide a series of school visits, training and mentorship for teachers and volunteer staff members, as well as books, stories and other forms of literacy material.
Story Powered Schools programme administrator Nompumelelo Ntsele said the programme was working with schools to give young pupils an enriched overall early school experience.
“This is a beautiful and exciting campaign aimed at improving rural schools, but also their communities. We are using structures that already exist in the school curriculum to enhance the learning that takes place in schools.
“Pupils from rural areas are always forgotten – everything exciting is always done in the city.
“We decided to work with these hard-to-reach village schools in order to give pupils an experience that was previously limited to pupils in urban schools,” Ntsele said.
Currently, the programme has 20 volunteers, called story sparkers, each visiting five schools a week, who work alongside teachers and walk a pupil through the process of reading and writing, teaching young pupils how to appreciate books and reading from a young age.
“Sparkers help teachers use the learning time creatively, involving and engaging pupils in literacy development.
“We are breaking the myth and fear of books by cultivating a culture of reading,” Ntsele said.
Pupils read books in their home languages as well as in English, an element Ntsele says gives pupils a solid foundation.
“When a pupil has a good grasp of reading and writing in his or her mother tongue, it becomes easier for them to fully grasp learning in English as well.”
The programme is occasionally extended to other community institutions in order to extend its footprint. Ntsele said the programme has already visited 120 schools in Maluti and Bizana, and has been well-received.
“Communities are owning this programme, embracing it and becoming fully involved in it.
“Children are warming up to books. During a hospital visit in Bizana, one boy continued to read his book even after we’d finished our lesson, showing that this does indeed work.”
The programme will also be implementing a series of dialogue sessions for educators, parents and community members, to show them how they can play an active role in supporting the literacy development of young pupils, as well as workshop sessions for Grades R to 5 pupils, to teach them more about their literacy rights.
Ntsele said Nali’bali was hopeful the programme would produce lasting fruit in the remote communities of the Eastern Cape.
“We are getting everyone involved because we don’t want this to stop,” she said.
“We are instilling a culture that says a pupil from a rural area has the right to learn in English and in their mother tongue. There is power in words.
“The earlier we can realise this, the earlier we can transform young lives.
“Books teach us to dream and plan for a better tomorrow.” — nonsindisoq@dispatch.co.za
Nali’bali turning the page for rural pupils
The national reading for enjoyment campaign has partnered with the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) to promote children’s literacy rights in rural schools.
It launched in January this year and aims to nurture a love for reading in English and home languages in the lives of pupils from Grades R to 5 in remote villages of Maluti and Bizana.
It’s the first time Nali’bali will introduce a programme to be integrated into school curriculums, and the plan is to reach 720 rural schools in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal by the end of 2020.
The programme aims to provide a series of school visits, training and mentorship for teachers and volunteer staff members, as well as books, stories and other forms of literacy material.
Story Powered Schools programme administrator Nompumelelo Ntsele said the programme was working with schools to give young pupils an enriched overall early school experience.
“This is a beautiful and exciting campaign aimed at improving rural schools, but also their communities. We are using structures that already exist in the school curriculum to enhance the learning that takes place in schools.
“Pupils from rural areas are always forgotten – everything exciting is always done in the city.
“We decided to work with these hard-to-reach village schools in order to give pupils an experience that was previously limited to pupils in urban schools,” Ntsele said.
Currently, the programme has 20 volunteers, called story sparkers, each visiting five schools a week, who work alongside teachers and walk a pupil through the process of reading and writing, teaching young pupils how to appreciate books and reading from a young age.
“Sparkers help teachers use the learning time creatively, involving and engaging pupils in literacy development.
“We are breaking the myth and fear of books by cultivating a culture of reading,” Ntsele said.
Pupils read books in their home languages as well as in English, an element Ntsele says gives pupils a solid foundation.
“When a pupil has a good grasp of reading and writing in his or her mother tongue, it becomes easier for them to fully grasp learning in English as well.”
The programme is occasionally extended to other community institutions in order to extend its footprint. Ntsele said the programme has already visited 120 schools in Maluti and Bizana, and has been well-received.
“Communities are owning this programme, embracing it and becoming fully involved in it.
“Children are warming up to books. During a hospital visit in Bizana, one boy continued to read his book even after we’d finished our lesson, showing that this does indeed work.”
The programme will also be implementing a series of dialogue sessions for educators, parents and community members, to show them how they can play an active role in supporting the literacy development of young pupils, as well as workshop sessions for Grades R to 5 pupils, to teach them more about their literacy rights.
Ntsele said Nali’bali was hopeful the programme would produce lasting fruit in the remote communities of the Eastern Cape.
“We are getting everyone involved because we don’t want this to stop,” she said.
“We are instilling a culture that says a pupil from a rural area has the right to learn in English and in their mother tongue. There is power in words.
“The earlier we can realise this, the earlier we can transform young lives.
“Books teach us to dream and plan for a better tomorrow.” — nonsindisoq@dispatch.co.za
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