Coinciding with National Book Week in the first week of September, an initiative by the Department of Arts and Culture and the South African Book Development Council to promote literature and encourage reading, KST’s District Whole School Development Programme renovated four school libraries and built 14 new ones in the Fezile Dabi and Motheo districts.

The libraries aim to encourage reading for meaning. According to the now well cited 2016 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, 78% of Grade 4 learners in South Africa cannot read for meaning. Percentages are even higher for children tested in African languages.

Listen below for KST’s Manager for Fezile Dabi district, Nathan Pillay, on how the libraries were developed.