ELITS celebrates SA Library Week 2007

On 19 March 2007, officials from ELITS Head office and Pinetown district, together with the KZN MEC for Education, Mrs I Cronje celebrated the start of Library Week at Mandosi Primary School in Inanda. The principal, Mrs Zulu, was very hospitable and welcoming and the school's drum majorettes proudly marched up the road to welcome the guests.
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Westville Girls High Media Centre

The new Media Centre was opened in 2006 and it is fabulous. Mrs Di Compaan, a leading teacher librarian in KwaZulu-Natal, was instrumental in the design of the centre. Light, airy and spacious this centre is extremely inviting and much attention has been attended to detail. Beyond Mrs Compaan's flair for dynamic displays (she does have an art background afterall) the different levels draw one into the different parts of the learning space. A special section is reserved for travel as well as the CD/DVD club that is run. An interesting innovation is detailed book jackets mounted on empty shelves awaiting stock.

Building on the core items in her previous Media Centre Mrs Compaan has files of recommended titles, also beautifully displayed and enticing to even the non-reader. The careers section has always been excellent and remains so here.

This centre is really an example of excellent practice and is of world standard. The school needs to be congratulated in investing in this resource where books are as important as the computers. There is a propensity for some schools to lose sight of this in the age of technology but Westville Girls certainly has the balance right - the girls are really very fortunate.

Joy Rosario
October 2006

 

Umzokhulayo Junior Primary

Umzokhulayo Junior Primary is situated in the Ndwedwe, part of the eThekwini Region. There are about 325 learners in the school which goes from Grades 0 to 4, and 11 educators. The Library Committee consists of four educators, one SGB member and eight learners.
Their goals include integrating the library resources with the curriculum and encouraging reading and computer literacy among the learners.

Mrs Sithulisiwe Mkhize, who has just completed the Advanced Certificate in Education - School Library Development and Management, has been made the full time librarian.

The library occupies two interconnected rooms: the main room has excellent security, table, chairs and carpets for the children, display shelves, and
an issue desk. The other room houses computers and a printer. The school is not yet online.
 

Sethembinkosi Junior Primary
Teacher Librarian: Nozipho Chiliza
Port Shepstone
Pietermartizburg Region

SETHEMBINKOSI JUNIOR PRIMARY SCHOOL

Sethembinkosi J.P. School is situated along the main road in a township called Gamalakhe, +- 20 km from Port Shepstone town. The school opened its doors for the first time in 1997. Back then its enrolment was almost 370 with only 7 educators. The school has since grown to an enrolment of 1 112 learners, 27 state paid educators and 3 SGB paid educators. We now have preschool facility which accommodates learners ranging from 4 - 6 years. Our principal is Mrs Mdleko with her deputy being Mrs Goba. Our school is involved in quite a number of projects one of them is feeding the hungry. The principal of our school is a very hands-on person who makes it easier for us as staff to engage ourselves in community projects and in the upliftment of learner's lives.

Being in a township comes with a lot of challenges, one of them being having a great population of the community illiterate. The passion of having a library in our school grew as the school grew. From only a couple of boxes with books and an empty class a school library was born in 2003.

At first it was very difficult. Our learners were not used to the library. Most of them did not use the local library which meant that they'd never been in a library before. For us, starting a library was to be a challenging task due to our limited knowledge. Fortunately the staff involved and the learners were all keen to learn fast.

We started very small but thanks to the donations the school received from NGOs, ELITS and educators from neighboring schools. Learners were selected to assist in the library and they were very helpful. Once the library was up and running we selected library monitors who are changed every term. Selection is done by their educators in their classes. Since the selection criterion was laid out to them the discipline in the school improved as well. This was because learners wanted to be part of what was happening in the library.

When the Shongololo project started in 2004 we were amongst the schools which were selected to join in bringing about change in our communities. This project has assisted us in many ways. We got training on how to use computers which was to help us integrate computers and our media/information centres. Back at schools more learners became interested as this project meant they are to benefit greatly from it. Everyone welcomed it with warm hands. The co-coordinators were very helpful in ensuring a smooth running of the project at school levels as implementation was proving to be difficult for some of us.

For us being in the project has meant a number of things. Firstly, it puts your school on the international map. Secondly, with hard work your library improves drastically. Thirdly, which is the most important one; the learners get an opportunity to experience what happens in other places as well. They get to share their experiences with learners abroad and that builds up their self esteem.

Lastly, all of the above is attained through hard work, patience and dedication to be a change agent in your school.
Once more thank you to the project facilitators and funders. It is a worthwhile project.

Nozipho Chiliza
Teacher Librarian

 

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