Born To Read programme has arrived

Literacy has been made a top priority in Mogale City.

To allow children to grow and shape their minds, Mogale City Library Services has embarked on a project to ensure that children will be nourished and allowed to grow so that literacy rates can improve.

The Born To Read programme has since landed in Mogale City borders paying special attention to early childhood development centres (ECDs) along with other schools on the West Rand.

Senior Librarian Tania Kgoale explained how the Born To Read programme helps children adopt the culture of reading even after birth.

“To assist youngsters improve their reading ability, Mogale City Library Services will bring the Born To Read project to the community, with a focus on pregnant and new moms.

“Intended to encourage mothers to introduce the culture of reading to their children while still in the womb, the programme also aims to promote early childhood literacy and language development, while helping new parents understand their critical role as their child’s first and most important teacher. It matters not how old your child is, but the sooner you start teaching them to read, the better,” Tania said.

The municipality has also reached out and worked with many disadvantaged schools and ECDs in Kagiso where the programme was rolled out first. While the reading numbers look bleak, there are signs of optimism according to Tania.

In Gauteng, the provincial Department of Education is working with WordWorks, also an education NGO, to implement a Grade R programme in all schools. The three-year project has an R107 million budget coming from the provincial budget. The report estimates that South Africa will take until 2026 to return to 2016 levels of improvement, without immediate intervention.

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