Queen Kamsweli Primary School situated in the Bululwane district of rural Nongoma in Kzn, was the proud recipient of a stunning mobile library kindly sponsored by Masixhasane Mobile Libraries and Trade 4 Development. This innovative mobile library can be wheeled from one classroom to another which makes it easily accessible to all learners and also boasts a state of the art flat screen television set as well. The learners at Queen Kamsweli Primary School come from communities which do not have access to a library and it is shown that access to libraries improves learner performance and increases their chances of success.
Andre Venter, a Director of Masixhasane Mobile Libraries was present at the handover function and advised that his company was proud to have participated in this project and he has worked closely on this initiative with representatives of the New Africa Education Foundation, Trade 4 Development and the Bayede Heritage Trust. Venter is confident that this initiative will go a long way towards improving the literacy rate at the school.
Also attending the event was Dirk Kotze, Chief Executive Officer of Trade 4 Development and he added that “a literate, educated society is a safer, healthier, and more prosperous society. So by promoting reading, writing, and other academic subjects it will lead the way in promoting prosperity through knowledge. It has been a pleasure working together with Masixhasane Libraries, the Bayede Heritage Trust and New Africa Education Foundation and we hope that we can work together and extend this to many more schools going forward” said Kotze.
Sibongiseni Mdlalose representing the Bayede Heritage Trust praised the funders for this initiative and urged all South Africans to come on board. Government cannot address the problems in Education on its own and it is therefore important that the private sector come on board and assist in this regard. This is an excellent example of a Public, Private sector partnership in action added Mdlalose.
Her Majesty, Queen Nompumelelo Zulu who is also the Principal of Queen Kamsweli Primary School, was delighted that her school was chosen for this initiative. She advised that there was a huge focus on literacy at the school and the Educators’ at Queen Kamsweli Primary School, had already started several programmes to improve the literacy rate at the school and this library will go a long way towards addressing this need.
The roll-out of the library to the beneficiary school was coordinated and managed by Ahmed Motala of the New Africa Education Foundation, an NPO that is an official partner of the National Department of Basic education (DBE).
