It was the late former president Nelson Mandela who said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. The power of education extends beyond the development of skills we need for economic success. It can contribute to nation-building and reconciliation.”
In pursuit of realising this dream a non-profit organisation that promotes youth literacy in under-resourced communities in South Africa, Read to Rise in partnership with Sun International Hotel in Sandton recently donated thousands of book for Carter Primary School in Alexandra.
Read to Rise and Sun International donated 1 500 books to learners that that can read at home or at school without an obligation to return them at the school. Learners who were at home enjoying school holidays came in their number to receive books from the donors.
Steve Tsakiris of Read to Rise said the initiative was sparked by the a lack of reading material in different schools across the country. “We realised that there was lack of reading material for children in schools and the statistics show that children cannot read for meaning. Read to Rise wanted to provide an initiative that will provide children with an opportunity to own a book for themselves. We also want to inspire children to read books,” Tsakiris said.
“This was our first school to work with in Alexandra after we were asked by Sun International to adopt one school in the area that we can work with. This is a book ownership programme, every child in grade four will get a book to take home and read in his or her time and own it. We also donated 21 mini-libraries with 50 books each.”
Carter Primary School principal Peter Makgatho said the books will help learners to read books that are appropriate for their age and easy to understand.
“This initiative is something that I’ve always been craving for, to get books that will speak to our children which match their age and understanding. Reading is basic for every subject and we must inculcate the culture of reading to learners. They must read to understand not to fulfil classroom activity obligation only,” Makgatho said.
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