WATCH: Westside Primary celebrates World Read Aloud Day
An attempt to change the poor literacy levels in South Africa.
Thousands of children across South Africa spent Thursday last week – World Read Aloud Day – glued to their seats as teachers and volunteers alike read to them.
This, in partnership with the reading-for-enjoyment campaign Nal’ibali, in an effort to reach one million children and put a stop to the poor literacy levels in South Africa.
Kempton Park’s Westside Primary School threw its weight behind the project, adding about 500 children to the one million mark.
Forty-two of these 500 learners were the exited Grade Fours, all neatly in rows. They listened with interest as Debbie Thacker, director of the Kip McGrath Education Centre, read The Final Minute by Zukiswa Wanner. The only time the smart learners did talk was to help their reader with the pronunciation of an isiXhosa name.
Thacker believes that reading is vital to the success of a child’s education.
“Comprehension is vital to children [when reading] because it influences their school work from Grade One right up to Grade 12. If they don’t understand what they are reading they are not going to manage,” she said.
Principal Soekie Pieters agreed, “Reading is the basis of everything. If you cannot read you cannot do any of your school work.”
She believes children do not read as much anymore because they do not grow up in a reading environment.
“Parents and guardians, read with your child every single day. We need to create a culture of reading again,” she advised.
As Thacker finished reading the story, a little girl in the front row shot up her hand to ask a question.
“Do you need to be talented to read a book?” Thacker answered: “No, dear. Look at me, I’m just a normal person. Anybody can read.”
She donated the Kip McGrath reading trophy to the Grade Four class in an attempt to inspire them to continue reading.
