South Africa Post’s (Sapo) partnership with the non-profit organization Nal’ibali now enables children, book clubs, schools and libraries to collect free reading material from 508 branches across the country.
A year ago, reading supplements were only available at 46 post offices. This increase was made possible thanks to Nal’ibali’s partnership with the post office.
“At the end of last year, Nal’ibali was able to deliver 309,000 reading supplements each month through post offices. Each copy contains three stories, or nearly one million stories per month.
“We have reached 2,279 book clubs and around 216,000 children. We could do this by using the post office branch network; everyone knows that there is a post office in almost every village,” said said Nal’ibali’s acting chief executive, Katie Huston. , said Wednesday.
Nal’ibali enables young children to read in their mother tongue by producing interactive, illustrated reading supplements in nine of South Africa’s 11 official languages.
Nal’ibali produces interactive and fun reading materials that children assemble themselves, while the SA Post Office makes the reading materials available free of charge at its branches.
Research by Nal’ibali indicates that supplements help children, parents, and teachers develop reading habits and that people enjoy reading and using them.
Parents and teachers report that it helps children develop their reading skills and gives parents and children the opportunity to spend quality time together.
Research also shows that learning to read in one’s native language early in school makes education more engaging, meaningful and enjoyable for children. Children who benefit from mother tongue teaching and learning also perform better in their second language.
“Language is a major factor that binds members of a community and culture together. In a country like South Africa, famous for its wonderful diversity, the many languages we speak probably play a major role in the maintaining our diverse cultures,” Sapo said. .
The post calls on teachers, learners, caregivers or librarians to join the Nal’ibali tribe, by sending an email to [email protected]. The email contains the following details:
The name and postal code of a local post office
The name of a book club, school or library
A school or book club cell phone number that can be put on the address label.
According to the United Nations (UN), languages play an essential role in development, ensuring cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue.
“It is also vital to strengthen cooperation and achieve quality education for all, build inclusive knowledge societies and preserve cultural heritage, and mobilize political will to apply the benefits of science and technology to sustainable development,” the UN said.
(With contributions from the South African government press release)
