In 2017, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) said that 27% of public schools nationally are implementing the Incremental Introduction of African Languages (IIAL) in Grades 1 and 2 in 2017 despite challenges, which included an inadequate number of willing and competent teachers as well as negative attitudes and misconceptions about African languages being inferior in the global scheme.
The Enhancing Caregiver and Community Support for Children’s Reading Development Outside of School report provides evidence-based interventions that engage caregivers and community members to support children’s reading development outside of school. Some interventions work directly with caregivers in their home, while others use community spaces to promote reading skills.
The Reading Comprehension Group developed this interactive guide to promote uptake of literacy activities that strengthen children’s social-emotional learning skills and listening/reading comprehension skills, in the heart of communities through community libraries. The objective of this guide is to help teachers, volunteer teachers and librarians, and community leaders set up libraries where there are none and promote the use of community libraries that already exist via activities that engage the full community.