‘Literacy is not a luxury, it’s a right and a responsibility.’
Author: riaan@wecanchange.co.za
It is a well-established fact that ‘Reading for Meaning’ is the cornerstone of education and that there is a drive in South Africa to encourage reading from a young age.
Nal’iBali does just that. Although they work all year to promote reading, once a year they implement a reading bonanza. This year they aim to reach 2 million children during this year’s World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) campaign which takes place on Wednesday, February 5.
Please will you assist us in reaching this goal or exceeding it!
It is the biggest literacy drive in the country and it’s built on the simple logic that a well-established culture of reading can be the tipping point for education in South Africa.
WRAD draws attention to the importance of reading aloud to children in their mother tongue, please join Nal’iBali in highlighting the issue of literacy in SA.
Attached is a press release about WRAD (and some images from last year’s commissioned book and a picture taken at last year’s event). We hope you can use this to urge your readers to, participate in this initiative and read aloud to a child, or children, on February 5.
This year’s story, written by Lerato Trok, is called ‘A Day to Remember’. It is available in all 11 official languages and can be downloaded free of charge on www.nalibali.org or www.nalibali.mobi, from Wednesday, January 15.
So what’s happening on WRAD?
1. Apart from promoting the 2020 story, ‘A Day to Remember’ (written by Lorato Trok) on digital and social media platforms, Nal’iBali’s network of partners will be reading the story aloud at reading clubs and community centres across the country. Details of these events will be available soon.
2. A special event will be held on the morning of February 5, at the Es’kia Mphahelele Community Library in Pretoria. WRAD ambassador, Manaka Ranaka will give a special multilingual reading of the story.
3. With the support of the Department of Basic of Education, thousands of school children and educators will be joining the celebration too.
Call to action: WRAD draws attention to the importance of reading aloud to children in their home language and we’d like to appeal to you to help encourage your readers to join the call for action and to read aloud on February 5 by:
* Downloading the official story in any one of our 11 official languages on www.nalibali.org or www.nalibali.mobi (available free from January 15)
* Pledging the number of children they will be reading to on the Nal’iBali website
* Sharing pictures of read-aloud sessions on the Nal’iBali’s Facebook and Twitter platforms: @NalibaliSA, or using the hashtag #WRADChallenge2019 on the day.