Basic Education Minister Angie Motshek-ga is due to open the congress - themed the People's Summit For Quality Education - which will be attended by more than 4000 learners, teachers, parents, non governmental organisations, education specialists, academics and others with the education, training and development of the nation at heart.

The opening will take place at the OR Tambo Hall in Landsdowne Road, Khayelitsha, on July 18 and the congress will last a week.

Education International's local affiliates Equal Education, who are the hosts; and the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), are continuing a book collection and distribution campaign that is aimed at tackling the desperate state of school and community libraries.

They have highlighted that 8percent of public schools have functional libraries, 13percent have a library space without books or a librarian, while 79percent of schools do not have a library.

Additionally, and most tragically, South Africa is suffering a serious "aliteracy" problem. Aliteracy, also spelled alliteracy, is commonly described as the state of being able to read but being uninterested in doing so; or, simply put "the lack of the reading habit in capable readers".

According to the summit's hosts, they are driving the books collection and distribution drive because major international studies have shown that the provision of a functional library in a school will add between 10 and 25percent to average learner outcomes, they said.

Some of Equal Education's other campaigns include highlighting the nationwide problem of bare and/or under-equipped school and community libraries, and access to books on the national agenda; as well as bringing down late arrivals in schools; and successfully calling for the allocation of resources to address school infrastructure.

Sowetan has learnt that Equal Education - who are expected to coordinate the campaign - began in 2008 with a campaign that aimed to fix 500 broken windows at a school in Khayelitsha.

Sadtu and Equal Education will both have stands in the Education International's Congress exhibition area, where participants can deposit books, and learn more about their community development campaigns.

Commenting on the book collection campaign, Education International's general secretary Fred van Leeuwen said: "Education is an essential public service, so when it is unequal along the lines of class and race, as it can be in South Africa, then initiatives such as this are part of a grassroots community and teacher-led campaign for change. It is powered by analysis and evidence-based activism to improve public investment in schools."

Education International executive board member and Sadtu general secretary Mugwena Maluleke said: "Our goal is to ensure that every child in South Africa receives equal and quality education. Adequately resourced libraries will bring us a step closer to our goal as they will give our children and teachers access to more and varied sources of information other than from textbooks."

The summit will be chaired by Professor Mary Metcalfe.