Programme Director
Departmental Officials
Principals
School Governing Bodies
Members of Organised Labour
Learners
Parents and Community Members
Thank you all for coming to this important meeting to talk about the most important subject in education – the eradication of adult illiteracy. Research has shown that no country has achieved continuous and rapid economic growth without at least 40% of adults being able to read and write (GCE, 2010).
In this regard, the Department of Basic Education launched the Adult Mass Literacy Campaign dubbed Kha Ri Gude. The Kha Ri Gude Mass Literacy Campaign, provides Adult Basic Literacy and Numeracy for meaningful citizenry. This year alone the Kha Ri Gude Programme received an allocation R439.584 million in 2015/16. This allocation alone shows our seriousness to eradicate adult illiteracy in our lifetime.
Our meeting today to talk about the eradication of adult illiteracy overlaps with the nationwide celebration of 60 Years of the Freedom Charter. The Kha Ri Gude Programme is our response to the call of the Freedom Charter which declared that, “The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall be Opened!” The Charter specifically called for the eradication of adult illiteracy.
It proclaimed boldly that, “Adult illiteracy shall be ended by a mass state education plan”. In this regard major strides have been made as Kha Ri Gude has impacted the lives of more 3.4 million South African citizens to date. All Kha Ri Gude learners receive 240 hours of teaching and learning in Mother tongue, Literacy, Numeracy and spoken English. And, Kha Ri Gude Volunteers are encouraged to start reading clubs for themselves and adult learners.
To accelerate this programme we have employed Kha Ri Gude Provincial Coordinators in each of the nine provinces. The main job of the Provincial Coordinators is to recruit learners who are unable to read and write to register on the programme. Community libraries will be used by learners and volunteer educators as resources in teaching and learning.
In the 2014/15 financial year the Campaign alone Kha Ri Gude programme also impacted positively on poverty alleviation. We provided approximately 44 142 short-term employment to volunteers, including unemployed graduates and youth with matric in all nine provinces.
Volunteers received training, facilitator manuals and resources which enabled them to provide teaching and learning to approximately millions of learners, over the age of 15 years, including inmates and the disabled.
The youth volunteers on the program were also offered further study opportunities through the Funza Lushaka teacher bursary fund as well as through the various Services Sector Education and Training Authority (SETAs). In order to improve the quality of teaching and learning the DBE will be responsible for the training of all volunteers in each of the nine provinces. Training will be increased from 2 days to 3 days and experts and previous KRG monitors and coordinators with a proven track record will be used to transfer skills and train the volunteers.
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) is also working with the provincial Departments of Education to provide support, monitoring and to assist with venues in schools for afternoon classes. The Kha Ri Gude workbooks have been edited prior to printing for the 2015/16 campaign and the content will be revisited. The workbooks are also being evaluated externally which will impact on its design and content.
In the next term the KRG Campaign will continue to strengthen the advocacy and communication of the Campaign to ensure that the message to reduce illiteracy and the job opportunities available to the unemployed graduate youth of South Africa reaches every corner of the country.
The Campaign will target the remaining 1 128 075 learners and 35 000 unemployed graduate youth in the next two financial years. The Campaign must therefore be wrapped up in the next two years. At this time we would have achieved our target of reaching 4.9 million learners as per our commitment in Dakar in 2000 to half illiteracy by 50%.
Reading revolution
In pursuit of realising our long term goal “A Reading Nation is a Leading Nation”, we held the 1st Reading Roundtable this year. We consulted with experts and education stakeholders on measures that we need to take towards empowering communities and schools in particular to kick-start a Reading Revolution. Throughout the world, school education systems are focusing on literacy and numeracy initiatives as a means to improving the performance and learning outcomes. A learner’s ability to read, write and calculate is considered a vital toolkit in the pursuit of success and in managing life in general.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Council (UNESCO) have declared literacy as a human right, a tool of personal empowerment and a means for social and human development. Literacy is at the heart of basic education for all, and essential for eradicating poverty, reducing child mortality, curbing population growth, achieving gender equality and ensuring sustainable development, peace and democracy. The outcome of a good quality basic education is to equip learners with literacy skills for life and further learning.
Literacy impacts on society in several ways namely, literate parents are more likely to send their children to school; literate people are better able to access continuing educational opportunities; and literate societies are better geared to meet pressing development.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines reading literacy as “understanding, using, and reflecting on written texts, in order to achieve one’s goals, to develop one’s knowledge and potential, and to participate in society”. Research conducted by the International Reading Association identified and explored key factors that contribute to a culture of literacy such as:
- A supportive environment in which literacy skills can be practiced and encouraged;
- Training in the skills needed to read, write and use of information in everyday life;
- Motivation, incentives and support to practice literacy skills learnt not only within the formal curriculum but also at work, in families, in institutions, on the street and in the community; and
- Investment in policy, training, and the production of appropriate materials that is culturally and linguistically sensitive to the various members of the community.
There are ten critical factors that impact in developing and promoting a culture of literacy namely:
- Access to materials;
- The importance of people owning their own books;
- Alternative agencies that supply books if they are beyond the means of people;
- A national reading policy;
- Advocacy materials for child and adult literacy;
- Training models and materials for teaching literacy and reading;
- Co-operation between agencies and programmes;
- The importance of print literacy in contemporary society;
- Government promotion of a culture of literacy; and
- The role of libraries.
The Reading Promotion and Provision of Library and Information Services Plan
Libraries are seen as a key player because they have a role in almost all of these literacy factors, from access to materials and training to promotion and cooperation. The role of libraries with regard to the promotion of literacy and reading is largely construed as marketing reading material and the reading experience in order to convince people to read and use these materials. In this regard we have developed a four year plan (2015-19) dubbed, “The Reading Promotion and Provision of Library and Information Services (LIS) Plan”.
This plan gives impetus to the implementation of a National Reading Campaign which gives effect to the many initiatives which include, amongst others, the provisioning of at least 1 000 School Libraries per annum, commencing from July 2015. The overarching theme of the Reading Campaign emanates from the inaugural Reading Roundtable Discussion I spoke about earlier which had the theme, “A reading nation is a winning nation”.
Currently the following reading initiatives have been put in place:
- Resuscitation of the “Drop All and Read” programme.
- The development of DBE Reading Series.
The Plan includes activities such as the implementation of reading programmes, the involvement of communities in promoting reading, the revitalisation of existing school libraries, and the library assistants’ learnership programme for the youth.
We will officially launch 1000 School Libraries per annum campaign on Nelson Mandela Day, 18 July 2015 as part of the campaign in getting the nation to read.
Other initiatives to enhance a reading culture in schools and communities include:
- the provision of trolley libraries to 1000 multigrade schools across all provinces;
- The construction of two new school-community libraries for use by both schools and communities in each province;
To implement the Reading Revolution we have already begun with the following:
- identification of schools with libraries / library spaces that can be revitalised by Provincial Education Departments
- Identification of youth from communities to be placed in a learnership programme as library assistants for the administration of the revitalised libraries
- Provision of books and materials
- Utilisation of the library resources to promote reading during and after school-hours
- Development of educators in the utilisation of the library resources to promote reading.
- Identification of graduates and youths with matric to encourage adults to read.
The first phase of the campaign is already underway which includes the following:
- First cohorts of 200 library assistants are being placed in learnerships in school libraries across the country. ETDP SETA has provided funding for this 200;
- Provincial Education Departments have identified districts and schools targeted for this cohort;
- The recruitment process to identify youth for the learnership will begin shortly;
- The youth will be placed in schools as library assistants while they are receiving their training;
- They will receive a stipend as part of the learnership programme;
- The libraries of the schools where the library assistants will be placed will be upgraded.
- The provision of the library services includes training in the management of the resources and their utilisation to promote a culture of reading in and around the school;
- PSETA has also made a commitment to provide for another cohort of learnerships. They are currently finalising the budget and PEDs will be informed of the addition shortly;
- Construction of the 18 new school-community libraries (two per province).
Collaboration with the community and municipal libraries
The DBE and Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) are currently engaged in discussions aimed at looking at strategies to maximise resources. DAC is a serious stakeholder in the promotion of reading and libraries, and will be supporting the DBE in setting up school-community libraries.
Conclusion
In the words of the former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan “Literacy is a key lever of change and a practical tool of empowerment on each of the three main pillars of sustainable development: economic development, social development and environmental protection.”
I thank you.
