World Read Aloud Day which is commemorated on every first Wednesday of February across the globe marked its annual return of the commemorative day geared at promoting reading for scholars.
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This year, Nal’ibali and the Trevor Noah foundation partnered to bring the Khula Funda Literacy programme to seven participating schools in the Bramfischerville area.
The event was hosted at the Moses Kotane Primary School where learners engaged in a morning full of fun education activities geared towards reading.
Literacy Mentor for the Trevor Noah Foundation project, Bongani Godide said, “We started World Read Aloud Day a long time ago – which we have been celebrating as one of the key activities because we believe that children who have the opportunity to be read to become receptive to learning. And when we assess their progress, they tend to be more advanced than their peers who don’t. It is a powerful weapon hence it is celebrated around the world.”
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Godide said the organisation was targeting to reach three million children in 2023 in their work of building literacy in the country
“We particularly put an emphasis that they read and are read to in mother tongue languages particularly because they get used to reading in a language that they know and understand which makes it easier then when we introduce a secondary language like English, it becomes easier because they are familiar with words.
“We also emphasize story telling because it develops vocabulary and ways of understanding themselves and relating to others,” he explained.
Every year Nal’ibali commissions a children’s book author to write a book for the year – this year’s story is written by Tumisang Shongwe, titled Every day’s a story and was illustrated by Rico.
The story is available in the 11 official languages.
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The partnership between the two organisations has resulted in the establishment of reading clubs at the primary schools in the area, and the ‘drop everything and read’ period dedicated to picking up a book.
Olona Tywabi who is in charge of communication at Trevor Noah Foundation added, “We always start out programmes at primary school level because that is where learners learn foundation especially in Mathematics and literacy. We are excited that the programme is able to give support in literacy development through various activities in all African languages.”
