Boosting literacy

Fri, 1 April 2011

• “‘I like the library, because it keeps me busy all the time and I use it to do my homework, class work and it teaches me about many things in the world.” - Grade 9 learner*

Six Months Later: Ncemaneni Container Library Project

Library resources boosts literacy

Between March and June of 2010, the Ncemaneni Library was established at Ncemaneni Combined school in rural KwaZulu Natal. The library gives the learners from the school access to isiZulu and English books, and also serves as a resource for adults undertaking Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) courses. This report looks at the impact of the project six months on.

Use

• An average of 110 library books are borrowed by learners on a monthly basis.
• More girls are therefore using the library, even though there are more boys than girls at the school.
• Teachers incorporate materials available in the library into their projects, assignments and research. This is done with the knowledge that learners have full access to this information.
• 22 ABET students made use of the library facilities. An additional 9 community members, who were not part of the ABET programme also made use of the literary resources.

Results

• Since the opening of the library, the school has observed an upward trend in both English and isiZulu marks. A sample of high-achieving learners showed an average of 14% in English marks, while a sample of lower achieving learners showed an average increase of 13% in isiZulu and 11% in English.
• Of the ABET learners who took tests, 16 were able to read isiZulu with few mistakes while another 13 read with no mistakes.
• In both 2008 and in 2009, 22 ABET learners were assessed on numeracy, reading and writing. The number of passing learners went from 11 to 17 in the two years which is a 27% increase.

Investing in literacy

Remote areas of South Africa face a severe shortage of resources like libraries, making it difficult to improve literacy in these areas. Through the Ncemaneni Library project, learners are provided with access to reading material and an opportunity to develop their language and reading skills. The library also served as a resource for ABET students whose pass rate improved significantly during the implementation of the project. With limited access to reading resources prior to this initiative, the Ncemaneni Library is a valuable resource for the school and the extended community.

New books on their way to Ncemaneni

Tue, 1 June 2010

• ‘We started selecting books from the first day. Most of the books we selected are written in IsiZulu including collections of poetry, novels and short stories. We also chose some English novels; books on sport, religion, and computer literacy, we also bought a few Maths books.’ Ms. Mhlongo, school librarian.*

REPORT 1: Ncemaneni Container Library Project

The Izzi Trust will provide Ncemaneni Combined School with improved reading resources in the form of 1,200 new books in English and Zulu. 388 children from Grade 0 to Grade 9 will have access to a wide variety of specially selected fiction, poetry and grammar books as well as comics and an Encyclopaedia. The expanded school container library will benefit an additional 22 students from the Adult Based Literacy (ABET) classes held at the school weekly, as well as over 200 AIDS orphans who attend the daily soup kitchen at the school and listen to story-telling and reading by teachers.

The project began in March 2010 and is due for completion at the end of June 2010.

Outputs

• Two staff members from the Izzi Trust travelled to Ncemaneni on the 24th to 26th February to explain how the SASIX grant works to the school principal, the librarians and the library committee. The implementation schedule was drafted and accepted during this meeting.
• Biblionef was commissioned to provide the library with 975 books, fully covered and stickered
• The Izzi Trust coordinated the trip from Durban to Cape Town for the two librarians to choose appropriate books for the library.
• The librarians choose 53 library resources including posters and puzzles
• Two-thirds of the books chosen are in IsiZulu, while the remaining third are in English and include novels and poetry; History books; and Maths, Science and Computer literacy study guides.

Expenditure

The total budget for this project is R99,900 and R19 900 has been paid.

Description	Budget	Expenditure
Project Coordinator	10 000	10 000
Administrative costs involved in choosing books	8 000	-
Books	70 500	-
Transportation of books	1 500	-
Librarian travel costs	7 800	6 338
Izzi Trust staff travel costs	-	5 212
Admin	21 000	-
TOTAL	99 900	21 550

The Izzi Trust used the first payment from SASIX to send two librarians from the school to Cape Town to choose books for the library. Although the flights for the librarians cost R1100 more than anticipated, expenses for this trip were generally well managed. The money originally budgeted for the librarians' car rental was not used and was later reallocated to the Coordinating team's travel costs for the team's first visit to Ncemaneni. The R3212 difference in the coordinating team's travelling costs was covered by The Izzi Trust.

Challenges

Initially Izzi Trust anticipated that they would secure approximately 1200 books for the library. However, due to price increases between 2009, when the quote was first submitted, and early 2010, when the librarians chose the books, they were only able to get 975 books.

Some of the books ordered from Biblionef were not available at the Biblionef warehouse and had to be ordered directly from the publishers. This fact has delayed the delivery of books, which will happen in June 2010.

Monitoring and evaluation

Once the books chosen by Ncemaneni Combined School's librarians reach the library, the following indicators will be used to measure the successful implementation of this project:

• The library Committee will meet quarterly as to discuss arising issues such as loss, damage, repairs and possible increases of the library collection. Minutes of these meeting will be provided to SASIX.
• An activity report will be submitted, detailing the monthly site visits undertaken by the Izzi Trust and the other members of the library committee.
• A report summarising the library usage records by sex and book category will be submitted
• Once the project has been fully implemented, school results of a selected sample of learners in language subjects will be monitored and compared against results in previous years in order to establish the impact of the enlarged library.
• Course results by ABET students will also be assessed and compared to previous years’ results.

Conclusions

The lack of resources is one of the biggest barriers to education confronted by many South Africans, particularly those living in remote rural areas. This project helps break down this barrier for the learners at Ncemaneni. By opening its doors to ABET students and orphans that attend the drop-in centre, its impact will extend far beyond the school itself and become an important centre of learning for the surrounding community.