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2.5 THE EDUCATIONAL, TRAINING AND EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMMES
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2.5.2 THE NATIONAL EARLY LEARNING DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS (NELDS)
The NELDS is a policy which is linked to the curriculum, focusing mainly on the early learning requirements for children aged between 0 and 4 years (Department of Education, 2009). The NELDS was implemented for purposes of improving a comprehensive development of children’s self-identity, learning experiences, common knowledge and understanding, literacy, communication and language and, health and physical wellness (Department of Education, 2009).
The NELDS promotes the use of an integrated approach which focuses on crèche services and learning aims of curriculums for various government sections that render childcare services, for example the partnership between the Department of Social Development and DoE. In this partnership, the Department of Social Development ensures that a crèche is built for each local community while the DoE takes care of learning material and teaching staff. Some of the desired results of NELDS are the following: children should learn to communicate competently and use language with confidence (Department of Education, 2009). The NELDS assists in providing the basis for lifelong learning because it seeks to ensure that children learn in in all- inclusive approach and to enable parents, teachers, and other caretakers to render suitable programmes and interventions geared toward supporting children’s learning needs (Department of Education, 2009).
2.5.3 ADULT BASIC EDUCATION AND TRAINING (ABET) STRATEGY (1997) The ABET Strategy was developed with the aim of responding to adults’ on-going need for lifelong learning in order to ensure sustainable levels of numeracy, literacy and basic as well as general education and certificated career paths (Department of Education, 1997). Early ECD targets children between 0-4 years of age, including those who experience barriers to learning, whether they are in mainstream or special schools (Department of Education, 2008:11). By developing the ABET Strategy, South Africa was responding to Article 1 of the Declaration of the World Conference on Education held in 1990 which makes the following statement on basic learning needs (Department of Education, 1997:12): Every person, adult, child, and youth shall be able to benefit from educational opportunities designed to meet their basic learning needs. These needs comprise both essential learning tools (such as literacy, oral expression,
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numeracy and problem solving) and the basic learning content (such as knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes) required by humans beings to be able to survive, to develop their full capacities, to live and work in dignity, to participate fully in development, to improve the quality of their lives, to make informed decisions, and to continue learning. The scope of basic learning needs and how they should continue to be met varies with individual countries and cultures, and inevitably, changes with the passage of time.
In line with the above ideals of the Declaration of the World Conference on Education, the South African national Department of Education alludes to the fact that in the context of adult learning, lifelong learning should encompasses both the formal and the more non-formal or informal, developmental approaches to lifelong learning. This is essential in order to ensure that learners can use the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes acquired through ABET in their daily life situation (Department of Education, 1997).
The South African Government recognises that the availability of basic education, for youth and adults, would not necessarily be in the form of schools, but in the form of education and training programmes appropriate to personal circumstances of adult learners. Furthermore, responsibility for the provision of education, other than higher education and training, rests with the provincial governments (Department of Education, 2007). Accordingly, this study seeks to ascertain the role of the HRD Unit of the KZN-DAC in promoting a culture of reading in communities, in particular the Edendale community.
2.5.3.1 THE OBJECTIVES OF ADULT BASIC EDUCATION AND TRAINING (ABET)
The South African Government, through the national DoE, introduced ABET with the objective of creating a literate South Africa within which all its citizens have acquired basic education and training that enables effective participation in socio-economic and political processes to contribute development and social transformation (Department of Education, 1997:14). This objective could be achieved if South Africa has a strong culture of reading.
2.5.4 THE CULTURE OF LEARNING, TEACHING AND SERVICES (COLTS) PROGRAMME
The national DoE initiated the COLTS programme to revive passion for teaching and learning in schools. The COLTS campaign is closely related with the ABET campaign in the sense that
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activities aimed at parent motivation and school governance training are enhanced by ABET programmes that educate, train and inform under-educated adults (Department of Education, 1997). According to Phajane (2014:214), the COLTS campaign is meant to improve the reading proficiency levels of all learners and to develop their reading skills. For the COLTS programme to succeed, South African communities should have a strong culture of reading.
2.5.5 THE NATIONAL READING STRATEGY
The National Reading Strategy was adopted as a response to the shocking findings of the two national systemic evaluations conducted by the national Department of Education in 2001 and 2004 respectively. The aim of conducting these national systemic evaluations was to ascertain the literacy and numeracy levels in primary schools (Department of Education, 2008:4). These surveys showed shockingly low levels of reading ability which indicated that large numbers of our children across the country simply do not read (Department of Education, 2008:4), hence the introduction of the National Reading Strategy in 2008.
2.5.5.1 THE AIMS OF THE NATIONAL READING STRATEGY
The National Reading Strategy was developed mainly to achieve the following aims (Department of Education, 2008:5):
promoting a nation of lifelong readers and lifelong learners;
promoting reading across the curriculum;
encouraging reading for enjoyment;
ensuring that every South African is able to read and write; ensuring that not only teachers, learners and parents, but also the broader community; and
understanding their role in improving and promoting reading.
2.5.6 SPECIFIC CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTING THE NATIONAL READING STRATEGY
The implementation of the National Reading Strategy across the country encounters challenges with regard to teacher competency; libraries; teaching conditions; the print environment and inclusive education (Department of Education, 2008:8). For purposes of this study, the challenges pertaining to libraries are unpacked in some detail. Table 5 below reflects public schools and libraries by province in 2015.
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Table 5: South African public schools and libraries by province, 2015
(Source: Department of Basic Education National Education Infrastructure Management System, Standard Report, 2015)
With regard to challenges relating to libraries, the 2015 Department of Basic Education National Education Infrastructure Management System (NEIMS), Standard Report, 2015 reveals that of the 23 589 public ordinary schools, 18 150 schools are without libraries while only 3 287 of those with libraries have stocked libraries (Mtwesi, 2016:1). This picture is similar to the one of 1999 painted by the Modern Language Association (MLA) Survey conducted in 1999 which found that the majority of schools had no access to libraries.
According to the Department of Education (2008:8) the results of the 1999 MLA Survey were:
25 145 schools were surveyed in South Africa in 1999;
22 101 schools had no space for a school library;
3 388 had space for a library, but had no books in the library; and
a mere 1 817 schools had library space that was stocked with books, i.e. just over 7%
of the schools in South Africa.
Against this background, Elinor Sisulu, in her address at the symposium on the Cost of a Culture of Reading held at the Centre for the Book in 2004, as cited in Mahala (2010:13), observed that a culture of reading is inextricably intertwined with the availability of books.
(Mahala, 2010:13) further maintains that the lack of libraries is especially significant in South
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Africa where many learners and their parents cannot afford to buy books and that it is in this regard that South Africa’s library and information sector is of strategic importance to the communities of this country.