Some 150 learners in Alexandra’s primary schools will be primed to become excellent readers.
This is all courtesy of the launch of a reading programme at the Phuthaditjaba-Qoqizizwe Centre of the township’s foremost philanthropist Linda Twala. This comes hot on the heels of a private study that revealed that 60% of learners at the Grade 4 level in South African schools could hardly read and comprehend.
Known as the Alex Literacy Programme, it is the brainchild of Pholoso M Foundation’s Pholoso Masinamela, who then roped in Twala’s last-born daughter Gcina Twala, a founder of the Ntsika Ye Sizwesethu NPO alongside her husband Thato Mokwebo.
“I was one of those learners too that fell behind in reading with comprehension and when the study revealed that primary school learners still cannot read, I was motivated to start a literacy programme that would prime children to become excellent readers who not only read but also comprehend what they are reading,” Gcina told Alex News at the launch of the programme.
She said the pilot programme would run for three months from now to December after which it will be assessed for its effectiveness to run it for a longer period. “We don’t want it to be a once-off affair but rather a programme that will have its tangible legacy.”
Pholoso Masinamela of the Pholoso M Foundation, who also felt the pain upon the release of the primary school reading study and wanted to start a literacy programme, joined forces with like-minded Gcina.
Every Saturday, 150 children will attend the literacy programme at Iphutheng Primary School that will also encompass artwork as not all children are academic. They will also be provided with meals and all the required equipment such as pens, pencils, exercise books and readathon materials, crayons, sharpeners, erasers and T-shirts that they will have to wear to the classes.
Masinamela said, “We will seek to test the children on their reading abilities to inform ourselves of the magnitude of the task that lies ahead and to know how best to serve the children in accordance with their level of reading abilities.”
She said next year they would host the programme at Iphutheng Primary School and would seek funding for it as they would be able to present the success of the pilot project to potential sponsors.
“We call on potential funders and sponsors to join hands with us and make the Alex children more literate.”
Among the organisations they are working with are the Anglo-American Ambassadors for Good, Swaragano and Phuthaditjaba Centre.
“I aim to grow with the children from primary right up to high school and varsity and in that we shall have made a tangible legacy for them,” Masinamela concluded.
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