Ithuba in the News

"Children belonging to the peoples concerned shall, wherever practicable, be taught to read and write in their own indigenous language or in the language most commonly used by the group to which they belong. When this is not practicable, the competent authorities shall undertake consultations with these peoples with a view to the adoption of measures to achieve this objective. Adequate measures shall be taken to ensure that these people have the opportunity to attain fluency in the national language or in one of the official languages of the country. Measures shall be taken to preserve and promote the development and practice of the indigenous languages of the peoples concerned."
(Article 28)

Mother-tongue instruction presupposes that there are sufficient reading materials from which learners can learn. As we all know, this is not so in the case of African languages of South Africa. The stories you have authored are about your experiences and therefore should find resonance with your learners and fellow teachers in the classrooms.
Recently, the Department of Education launched the "Drop All and Read" campaign. The campaign encourages all schools to put aside an additional half an hour per day to "Drop All and Read". The aim of the campaign is to create a culture of reading in the classroom and in the school. Everyone – from learner to teacher to principal to support staff – should read for half an hour every day. If learners enjoy reading, this will raise literacy levels and improve the ability of learners to learn. Again, this can only happen when there are sufficient reading materials to choose from. The ITHUBA books are an attempt to close that gap.

I congratulate the author-teachers once more. I hope that you will write many more books. You have learned the skills of writing, of documenting your everyday experiences. Go share them with your fellow teachers and together let us work towards turning this nation into a nation of life-long readers with sufficient and relevant resources in all official languages.
Congratulations once more!!!
Ngi ya bonga!
Ke a leboga!
Thank you!
Issued by: Department of Education
8 August 2008
Source: Department of Education (http://www.education.gov.za/)