Literacy is a concern the world over and literacy in South Africa is no exception. The end of apartheid in 1994 stopped discriminatory educational practices in South Africa legally, but bringing equal opportunities to all South Africa's children will take time. The South African Department of National Education reported in 2005 that 61% of students still cannot read by the end of Grade 3. That figure equates to over 600,000 children every year! A large part of the problem has been a severe lack of textbooks, especially an organized, systematic reading program for primary grade (R-3) students. Currently, the Education Department provides less than R195 (less than $30) per student for ALL student textbook needs. Reading programs, approved by the South African Education Department and available in all 11 official languages, DO exist and are readily available from local South African school textbook publishers. These books use excellent early learning reading strategies in a culturally friendly and linguistically relevant format. Schools simply cannot afford to purchase these books in sufficient numbers to make a difference, however. All too offten, classrooms will have one textbook, for every 15 students....This ratio does NOT create a reading program with much guarantee of success!
Recently, the Newlands Rotary Club in Cape Town; Ontario Rotary Club in the USA; and KidCare International, a non-profit organization based in Claremont, California, partnered to introduce Literacy For All Kagiso Readers in each of the primary grades at Isiphiwo Primary School in Khayelitsha, a large (approximately one million people) township outside of Cape Town. Pilot programs, such as the one at Isiphiwo, have shown a 67% increase in literacy rates within 18 months!
The Literacy For All program provides:
*A complete, sequential reading program (R-3) in all of the official languages needed at a specific school, including English and Afrikaans
*A strong Teacher's Guide
*Training workshops to prepare teachers to use the program as well as regular follow up training and review
The Newlands Club, as well as Kirstenbosch and Milnerton Rotary Clubs in District 9350 in South Africa and Ontario Rotary in District 5300 in the USA are joining together in an effort to continue to expand the use of the Literacy For All program by seeking to fund the program for six additional schools in the Western Cape region: Sonwabo, Mkhanyiseli, Sivuyiseni, Zwaanswyk, Steenberg, and Trevor Manuel Primary Schools.
We invite all clubs to participate in making this worthy project beome reality! |
