The basic education department, in partnership with the National Reading Coalition and the National Education Collaboration Trust, will celebrate Mandela month by providing 17,200 mother-tongue storybooks to pupils and parents.

This is an effort to create awareness about reading and expand access to storybooks in the nine indigenous languages in the country.

NRC project manager Bailey Nkuna said the organisation will go on a national roadshow to encourage children to read.

“The world currently faces a reading challenge where children struggle to read for meaning. SA, while being no exception, has the additional challenge of resource-poor communities associated with low parental literacy and insufficient exposure to reading books.

“Since its inception in 2019, one of the fundamental principles of the NRC is to mobilise access to reading resources in communities where they are needed the most so that learners can read with understanding.

“To this effect, the NRC will embark on a roadshow in all nine provinces during Mandela month to galvanise communities to ‘drop all and read’ through various activities,” said Nkuna.

The NRC will run its campaign this Mandela month under the theme “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are”.

“The campaign will seek to bring to life this call by encouraging churches, communities and schools to drop all and read a book as a way to empower themselves. Reading is the most fundamental skill that learners need to achieve their full potential. It is empowering, it helps them to develop cognitively, it creates social cohesion and it’s enjoyable,” said Nkuna.

Some of the activities the NRC will run include enabling access to indigenous stories for 5,000 parents from 15 churches, who will be able to read to their children at home and helping 40 people to access virtual reading clubs.

kokam@sowetan.co.za