Rand West City Libraries in partnership with the Gauteng Provincial Library Services and City of Johannesburg Libraries hosted its first MobiReadathon Competition at Westonaria Library on August 2.
According to Rand West City Libraries librarian Thandeka Legae, the competition started in March and all high schools were welcome to register. She encouraged 15 local high schools to register and added 115 Gauteng high schools registered.
Four Rand West City high schools placed in the top ranks and received the highest scores in the province. After that, they were eligible to participate in the finals. Hoërskool Jan Viljoen High School, Randfontein High School, Phahama Senior Secondary School and Zuurbekom Intermediate School were able to participate in the finals.
“The competition allowed participants to showcase their digital literacy skills while learning to navigate digital platforms by filling in online forms and downloading stories. They did all of this by reading online,” Thandeka expressed.
During the competition, learners managed to play around using QR codes and had internet safety quiz questions. They were also assessed on the answers given to the questions based on the stories they read. Thandeka explained that they read to understand the meaning.
Phahama School of Specialisation managed to secure first place while Jan Viljoen came in second. Zuurbekom Intermediate School took third place.
According to Thandeka, Edzai Mpukuzela from Randfontein High was the top learner with the highest marks.
Furthermore, she claimed all participants received prizes sponsored by Cynthia Matsoele from the Gauteng Provincial Library Services. The two judges included Phillip Moatshe and Tebogo Msimango while Jeff Nyoka acted as MobiReadathon facilitator. The officials from the Krugersdorp Correctional Services also attended as part of Rand West City Libraries’ stakeholders.
According to Thandeka, the MobiReadathon Competition is a digital literacy and reading development programme initiated by the City of Johannesburg Libraries which the Rand West City Libraries have adopted.
She further stated it aims to introduce learners to reading by using mobile devices like laptops, mobile phones and tablets to name a few.
