Dalpark Teacher Development Centre hosts library open day
South African Library Week celebrated.
To celebrate South African Library Week, commemorated from March 20 to 26, and to encourage reading, the Dalpark Teacher Development Centre hosted a library open day at their centre,.
It also holds the library for the Gauteng East district. Librarians and library facilitators from all 15 districts in Gauteng attended the open day on March 23.
Also in attendance were 15 schools, of which 50 educators and 35 learners represented their schools.
Masimong Foundation, several publishers, and the SA Heritage Foundation were partnering with the event.
The Masimong Foundation is a reading advocacy foundation that promotes literacy by holding a reading competition every year.
For this competition, three schools, Tsimong Primary, Gorogang Primary and Sakhelwe Primary, nominate eight learners each to read one of eight books assigned to the schools.
In September each year, they quiz these learners on the assigned books and the school that collects the most points for correct answers wins a prize.
General prizes also include first, second and third-place trophies, as well as certificates and medals for the learners.
The grand prize depends on the school’s needs at that time. Last year Gorogang Primary won the competition, and as their prize, Masimong helped them repair their library ceilings.
The primary schools invited to display exhibitions about their libraries and reading projects were Dalpark, Menzi, Gugulesiswe, Ntsikana, Funukukhanya, Muzomsha, Edalinceba, James Nkosi, Buhlebemfundo, PAM Brink, Sizwesethu, Job Maseko, Michael Zulu, Dan Pharasi and Tsimong.
Publishers exhibiting at the event and offering their services for product acquisition were Shuter & Shooter, Oxford University Press, McMillan and Vivlia.
The event aimed to inform educators about the resources available to them through library services. These resources can be used to increase literacy and improve education and bolster the schools’ own libraries to be functional.
