Post office calls for mother tongue reading to be promoted
“We reached 2 279 reading clubs and about 216 000 kids.”
The SA Post Office (Sapo) called on teachers, learners, caregivers, librarians, and book clubs to join the so-called “Nal’ibali tribe” as it sought to promote reading in your mother tongue.
Nal’ibali is a non-profit organisation that produces interactive reading supplements with illustrations in nine out of 11, of the official languages in the country.
The call for these members of the public to join the tribe comes as International Mother Language Day was going to be observed next week on February 21.
“Language binds members of a community and culture together. In a country like South Africa, famous for its diversity, the many languages we speak probably play a major role in keeping our varied cultures alive,” Sapo said.
Following a partnership with the post office, a drastic increase was seen in the number of post offices where free reading materials could be collected going forward.
Reading material could now be collected from 508 post offices, compared to only 46 a year ago.
“By the end of last year, Nal’ibali was able to deliver 309 000 reading supplements every month through the offices. Each copy has three stories – so that is nearly a million stories every month,” Nal’ibali acting managing director Katie Huston said.
“We reached 2 279 reading clubs and about 216 000 kids.”
She added that they were even able to reach remote areas as “there is a post office in almost every village”.
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Huston added that their research showed that learning to read in your mother tongue early in school made education more engaging, meaningful, and enjoyable for children.
It also enabled them to perform better in their second language.
Those interested in joining the Nal’ibali tribe can send an email to info@nalibali.org.
The email should have details that include the name and postcode of a local post office; the name of the reading club, school, or library; and the cellphone number of the school or reading club that could be placed on the address label.
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