Novus Holdings recently donated three mobile libraries to Soneike High School, situated in the Highbury area of Cape Town. As they can be wheeled from one classroom to the next, these mobile libraries now make reading material easily accessible to all learners.
Ronel Baker, the principal at Soneike High, and her staff are passionate about reading and have ensured that this ‘reading bug’ be passed on to learners. Every morning the school implements a twenty-minute period in which all learners are required to enjoy quiet reading time.
‘Through the promotion of reading, we help create a literate and educated society, which in turn empowers our communities,’ commented Mike Ehret, group executive for Government and Africa at Novus Holdings.
He added, ‘We have partnered with the Department of Basic Education on its Read to Lead campaign and the New Africa Education Foundation (NAEF) in the drive to make South Africa a reading nation by providing schools in need access to adequate reading material. With every mobile library donation we take one step forward in achieving this.’
The roll-out of the mobile libraries at schools is coordinated and managed by Ahmed Motala from the NAEF, an NPO that aims to assist previously disadvantaged youth and communities by improving the standard of education through the provision of necessary material, equipment and training support.
The launch of the mobile libraries at Soneike High was also attended by various representatives of the Department of Education and the Department of Basic Education. The Department of Basic Education’s Director for Partnerships in Education, Louis Taylor, praised Novus Holdings for this initiative and urged all South Africans to come on board. ‘Government cannot address the problems in education on its own and it is therefore important that we join forces with the private sector to assist us in this regard. This is an excellent example of a public-private partnership (PPP) in action,’ added Taylor.
Baker concluded, ‘We are delighted to have received these reading resources as it will help our learners excel in their reading and writing skills. There is already a huge focus on literacy at our school and these mobile libraries will go a long way in strengthening our literacy programme for our learners.’
Soneike High currently services learners from Delft, Wesbank, Eerste River, Blackheath, Mfuleni and various informal and RDP housing units in the areas. A large number of the school learners are also foreign nationals.
