The Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga, officially launched the 1 000 libraries project with the opening of the new library at Uvuyo Primary School in Dobsonville, Soweto, on Wednesday, 22 July, 2015.
The project aims to get more learners reading through the establishment and refurbishment of the 1 000 school libraries per annum and falls under the broader Reading Promotion and provision of Library and Information Services (LIS) sector plan, which is one of the key priorities of the Department of Basic Education (DBE) that was announced during the Minister’s Budget Vote Speech in May 2015.
This sector plan includes the implementation of reading programmes, the involvement of communities in promoting reading and the Drop All and Read campaign.
The newly-opened library at Uvuyo Primary School is one of 18 such facilities that have been completed as part of the 1 000 libraries project, which will also see materials provided to 60 Accelerated School Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (ASIDI) school libraries and the provision of 35 trolley libraries for multi-grade schools.
The project will see the revitalisation of 1 031 school libraries between 18 July 2015 and 18 July 2016 through the repairing of infrastructure and the provision of library resources. Phase 3 will involve a mass mop-up of the refurbishment done at the identified school libraries as well as ensuring that there is adequate provisioning for these libraries with regard to appropriate library materials and human resources.
Addressing learners, parents and teachers at the Uvuyo Primary School, Minister Motshekga emphasised the importance of creating a nation of readers. “A reading nation is a winning nation,” said the Minister. “We want all our learners to develop a love for reading for pleasure. That way it will be much easier and more enjoyable for them when they have to read for learning.”
The Minister went on to say that parents and teachers must do all they can to make books accessible to young people and encouraged community members to donate books and establish reading clubs.
The department has also introduced a number of initiatives to encourage a reading culture amongst young people, which includes the resuscitation of the Drop All and Read programme as well as the implementation of the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) programme in Grades 1to 3 in 1000 schools across the country. The department is also looking at developing a DBE reading series, which is modelled along the same lines as the Workbook project.
