READING IS POWER
Former Secretary General of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kofi Annan said “literacy is a bridge from misery to hope”. With 78% of 10-year olds in South Africa unable to read, literacy is an important area of focus for our country and an issue AYO is addressing in partnership with the Masinyusane Development Organisation.
The project pioneered an innovative approach of empowering a community to improve the education of its own children by addressing two crucial factors in community upliftment – education and job creation. 46 local, previously unemployed youth were hired ad trained to run individual learning sessions with primary school pupils providing them with much needed personal attention and support. In addition, significant investments were made into the infrastructure of multiple primary schools in the Eastern Cape, including new Literacy Centre at Fumisukoma Primary School, renovated libraries at Sinuka and Seyisi Primary Schools and a pilot Literacy Centre at Isaac Booi Primary School. An array of extra-curricular programs were also implemented, providing children with opportunities to discover and develop talents outside of the classroom.
AYO – Masinyusane Partnership in Numbers
- 2 Educational Technology Centres
- 4 Literacy Programmes
- 8 school infrastructure projects
- 46 literacy coaches hired and trained
- 95 laptops and tablets used in the centres
- 543 pupils receiving literacy sessions
- 620 children participating in library clubs
- 901 children enrolled in the Educational Technology Centres
- 8, 124 books borrowed from the project libraries
- 23, 708 literacy sessions
- 42, 674 hours of literacy coaching
Literacy sessions are adapted for learners in the various age groups with 5-6 year olds concentrating on phonics and sounds, while 9-10 year olds focus on reading and writing. Children are assessed every six months with astounding results. The average number of letters learned by Grade R’s participating in the programme was 11.7, versus 2.7 in the control group. Young children use AYO-sponsored tablets to learn literacy, math, creative and logic apps, while older learners use laptops to learn how to type, navigate Windows and use Microsoft Office.