.jpg)
Van Schaik Bookstore Celebrates International Literacy Day
8th September was declared International Literacy Day by UNESCO on 26 October 1966 at 14th session of UNESCO's General conference. Its aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies.
This year Van Schaik Bookstore joined two schools to celebrate International Literacy Day namely: Mandela Park Primary School in Mthata and Panorama Primary School in Pietermaritzburg.
The Mandela Park Primary School celebrations were done in association with the Walter Sisulu University Library. The school selected one learner from each grade to participate in the reading aloud activity as part of celebrating International Literacy Day. The event aimed at promoting a reading culture among learners in the school.
Learners were gathered at the assembly with all the educators, where we gave a purpose of the day and explained what International Literacy Day meant. Furthermore, we did a books handover to grade 5 learners, after that a competition was run where selected learners read aloud to all learners and the three best readers were awarded prizes from the Walter Sisulu University Library.
Our second leg of celebrating International Literacy Day took us to Panorama Primary school in KwaZulu Natal, in association with the Literacy Association of South Africa (LITASA). The aim of the event was to teach learners that reading, and writing can be fun while providing educators with the necessary skills on how to engage learners and whilst making learning enjoyable and fun.
The event was hosted by LITASA, for learners and educators with the theme being on litter. The learners were then arranged into groups and given the task of writing their own stories. Once they were done with their stories each group chose an individual to read out their story to. The day ended with the learners making puppets out of school litter. Each learner was given a McDonalds happy meal, stationery (donated by Van Schaik) and a book to read.
Illiteracy impacts all of us, not just those denied literacy education. We have barely begun to scratch the surface in issues impacting the quality and balanced literacy education in our communities. As a critical driver for economic development, our economy is enhanced when learners have higher literacy levels. This has become a launching pad in which we strive to create change, as we shared works of authors and written stories that serve as strong examples of Hope, Perseverance and Breaking boundaries.