Local foundation heads library handover project

A local foundation headed a library handover project at Reitumetse high school in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria on Friday.

“The mini-library project is aimed at promoting the reading culture in society,” Thusangwanageno founder John Molepo said.

Thusangwanageno means ‘help your younger sibling’ in Sepedi.

The library project was in support of the education department’s “Read to Lead” campaign.

“This aims to make reading fashionable by encouraging teachers and parents to drop everything and read,” Molepo said.

He explained the project was necessitated by South Africa being ranked last out of 50 countries in the 2016 progress in international reading literacy study.

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This study tested the reading comprehension of learners who were in their fourth year of primary school.

“It found that 78% of South African pupils at this level could not read for meaning,” he said.

Another study by Statistics South Africa reportedly found that 47.6% of children had never read a book or drew with either a parent or guardian, said Molepo.

“These stats inform for a collective driven solution; hence, we donated the mini-library,” he said.

“Each mini-library will have volunteers to assist learners with reading, homework and other relevant work,” Molepo said

He added that they were planning an essay writing competition as learners acquired writing skills.

While enough books were obtained for the first handover, he said book donations and other resources were needed going forward.

“The mini-library project will be donated to various schools and with a greater version of building and refurbishing school libraries,” Molepo said.

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