Linguist, author, educationist and community leader Dr Moses Josiah Madiba departed thirty-eight years ago in 1985 and would be turning 114 years on 19 November 2023. The promotion of learning and teaching in African languages in primary school should be a befitting honour to his pioneering work
According to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2021, 81% of South African grade 4 pupils across the country’s nine provinces cannot read with comprehension in all the 11 official languages.
COVID-19 pandemic was identified as a key contributing factor to learning losses in PIRLS 021 results. Apart from the pandemic, other issues include how teachers are being trained to teach languages and parents not instilling a love of reading in their children from a young age.
Upon reflection on the PIRLS 2021 outcomes, especially my home province Limpopo’s low performance, one is reminded that Dr Moses Josiah Madiba: linguist, author, educationist and community leader long preached the training of primary school teachers in their mother tongue. His belief that this would result in better training strikes me as not far-fetched.
In the article titled ‘The training of teachers’ published in Volume III, November 1933 of The Valdezia Bulletin (later renamed The Light), Madiba lamented the standard of education in the then Transvaal Province wherein he wrote “Better schools need better trained teachers
with a higher academic training.”
In pursuance of his conviction and propagation for mother tongue instruction and mother tongue as a medium of instruction in primary school, he developed the Northern Sotho terminology. Accordingly, the International Yearbook of Education, Volume 18, 1956 published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) – International Bureau of Education records that “The principle of mother tongue instruction has been accepted and was made compulsory in the lower primary school as from the beginning of 1956; it was also introduced in the higher primary school as far as practicable.”
Literacy and numeracy enhancement forms part of collective efforts to attain the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
An overview of SDG 4 however indicates that the world is falling behind in achieving this goal whilst without additional measures, by 2030: 300 million students will lack basic numeracy and literacy skills. Ensuring the equitable provision of reading resources to the country’s schools – developed in African languages and grade appropriate was highlighted by most experts and commentators as one of the accepted solutions.
Dr MJ Madiba was passionate about the development of Ga-Mashashane, after all he was born all those years ago in Uitvlucht, located in the area, on the confluence of Mogwadi and Modiye rivers. He lived by the motto: “Service to one’s people is the rent you pay for your
stay on earth.”
Earlier this year AVBOB made a call for nomination of 260 primary schools or educational non-profit organisations to receive 500 books as part of the company’s Road To Literacy trolley library campaign. The 2023 AVBOB literacy campaign had a focus on African languages to address the PIRLS 2021 diagnosis. Invoking Madiba’s motto on service in the nomination of Napo Primary School, a Quintile 3 school in Ga-Madiba village, Ga-Mashashane under the Polokwane Municipality was thus the logical thing to do.
The school caters for learners across Grade R-7, located across the road opposite my alma mater, Dr MJ Secondary School, which is named after Madiba ‘a Motlapodi. Unbeknown to me until recently, Napo Primary School is actually named after another Madiba forebear.
To further contextualise the primary school’s location, some of Polokwane’s key statistics are relevant. According to Census 2022 Results released by Statistics South Africa (StatsSA): it has a total population of 843 459; young children (0-14) account for 28.1%; and attendance at an educational institution (5-24 years) stands at 79.0%.
Hope is that the 500 books Napo Primary School, all written in the Sepedi language, a dialect of the Northern Sotho or Sesotho Sa Lebowa, go a long way in honouring the pioneering work done by Dr Madiba in developing the language.
The company’s tripartite partnership with Oxford University Press (OUP) South Africa and the government is a critical literacy intervention with alignment to the UN SDG 4, Target 4.6: By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy. Overcoming challenges underscored by the PIRLS 2021 study certainly requires multi-stakeholder efforts.
In this regard, Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga summed it up in her keynote address during this year’s trolley libraries winners announcement ceremony: “Together, let us ignite a love for reading, strengthen numeracy skills, and empower our children to reach new heights of knowledge and achievement. Let us rally behind literacy and numeracy, knowing that investing in education is investing in our nation’s future.”
Civil society also has a role to play in augmenting private and public sector literacy interventions. Accordingly, literacy activists Gapenyana Mphahlele, Mabjala Ledwaba who founded Vahluri Reading Club, a not-for- profit company (NPC) and others are doing their bit in a part of Ga-Mashashane.
The NPC was registered in 2021 and currently operates from Paradise crèche in Mandela village, with their work focusing on exposing primary school learners to English, Sepedi and Northern Ndebele reading books. Their effort also includes assisting learners with homeworks and school projects.
Napo Primary School together with Mashashane Primary School, Ngopane village and Matshelana Primary School, Mandela village are currently benefiting from the reading club’s commendable work. All services offered are free while the reading club is mainly dependent on donations.
The book of Matthew 6:2 says “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others.” It is however worth sounding the trumpet on the work done by a devoted volunteer cohort: Kgaogelo Matlatle, Shibe Monyamane, Victoria Mokwatlo, Lebogang Matlatle, Harry Mashao, Lebone Mphahlele, Tebogo Ledwaba, Tebatso Boroto, Matshidiso Sefole and Matshidiso Mokonyama.
Besides increasing their reading book collection, Vahluri aspires to expand its reach to the whole of Mashashane. The expansion would include development of comprehensive educational programmes, wherein they are currently aligning their literacy interventions with Nal’ibali, a national reading-for-enjoyment campaign. The grand plan is to ultimately realise the creation of a fully-equipped resource centre for the children thus needing everyone’s
help on this journey.
Dr Madiba was a staunch christian, a lay preacher and elder in the Lutheran Church, most of all preached service to the community. One of the prominent Lutheran Church buildings is located in Maune a ntlo tša go fsa, on the foot of Ngopane hill. He wrote this about the church in Learning Unit 24 of his Sesotho Sa Lebowa book, Mahlontebe IV,: “Ntlokgolo ya majakane, Ntlokgolo yabo moneri, Ntlokgolo ya bana ba puku, Ntlokgolo ya Jesu, Morena, Thitong ya thaba, fateng sa Ngopane, E eme e
rakaletše”
