Increase access to books in SA
PARKTOWN – SABDC discusses heated topics surrounding access to books.
Bringing greater access to books for children is the top priority for the South African Book Development Council (SABDC) but the question is, how can they do it?
SABDC hosted a breakfast as a part of their AGM to welcome potential partners and thank funders, as they embrace their vision to grow access to books for South Africa as a whole. CEO of the council Elitha van der Sandt said, “Books take you to a new place … [they carry] a cultural essence and contribute culturally to the identity of a country.”
She added that 78 per cent of Grade 4s are not able to read with meaning which propels the lack of literacy in the country to the forefront. Van der Sandt explained that currently, there is no industry programme to develop books and investment into this sector and it is needed.
Through initiatives such as the National Book Week (2 to 8 September) and SA Book Fair, the council and partners hope to emphasise that reading is not a chore but rather a real pleasure. The fair is used to connect diverse industry players from seasoned publishers to start-ups.
The council is also focusing on a publishing programme – a comprehensive model that is transformative in nature and supports the development of SMMEs to compete in the mainstream industry.
Caxton Local Media, under the banner of Caxton Cares, is considering ways to bridge the gap in learners’ access to reading material. The Joburg editors in attendance committed to play a part in helping local schools and organisations to gain access to books as well as to share their love of reading with the children in our communities.
Importantly, Van der Sandt said, children should be exposed to books from as early as inside the tummy. They should have access to books in their language that aren’t simply translated from English to an African language, thus bringing in text editing in the indigenous languages.
Mpuka Radinku, executive director of the Publishers Association of South Africa (Pasa) said, “We need to develop languages.”
This sentiment was shared among all the speakers with Dr Zanele Buthelezi from University of Zululand summing it up perfectly.
“We need to embrace all 11 official languages and allow children the right to read quality content, in their mother tongue.”
Caxton Local Media’s national creative director, Mirêlle Jacobs, added to this sentiment, “We encourage our emerging publications to write some stories in the area’s main indigenous languages.”
Jacobs added that it is mostly used at the KwaZulu-Natal Ugu Eyethu publications where the skills needed for such a task are present.
Nikki Crowster of the Library and Information Association of South Africa (Liasa) closed the chapter perfectly, “Our main goal is to advance the development through collaboration, partnerships and innovation.”
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