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Close Window Minister of Education Naledi Pandor and American Deputy Chief of Mission Don Teitelbaum launch the Ithuba Writing Project
Minister of Education Naledi Pandor and American Deputy Chief of Mission Don Teitelbaum launch the Ithuba Writing Project
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Minister of Education Naledi Pandor and American Deputy Chief of Mission Don Teitelbaum launch the Ithuba Writing Project
Minister of Education Naledi Pandor and American Deputy Chief of Mission Don Teitelbaum launch the Ithuba Writing Project

Local Language Book Initiative Spurs South African Children’s Literacy

September 12, 2007

MIDRAND, September 10 – Minister of Education Naledi Pandor and American Deputy Chief of Mission Don Teitelbaum launched an American-South African partnership to develop children’s books in local South African languages. 

The three-year, R21.6 million (US$1=R7.2) program is funded by the U.S. President’s Africa Education Initiative, designed to improve educational opportunities for Africa’s children.  The launch commemorates World Literacy Month. 1.3 million copies of new books and learning materials for 4th, 5th and 6th grade students will be published through the ITHUBA Writing Project.

Cooperating partners include the National Department of Education, USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development), the University of Texas-San Antonio and South African non-governmental organizations READ and the Molteno Project.

American Deputy Chief of Mission, Mr. Don Teitelbaum, presented the first 16 storybooks to Minister Pandor in front of an audience of children and educators at the Dr. Mathole Motshekga Primary School in Midrand’s Rabie Ridge.  Teitelbaum said, “Developing and producing books and educational resources for primary school learners in science, mathematics and health education are key objectives of the project.  South Africans are being trained to prepare materials in all 11 official languages.”

The South African isiZulu word—ITHUBA—means “opportunities.”  The home-language storybooks will feature 120 titles and focus on the country’s most marginalized languages:  SiSwati, Ndebele, Tshivenda and Xitsonga.  Minister Pandor has said it is a “well-established fact that home language, if correctly used, can be a powerful vehicle for developing foundational concepts for future learning.”

Dr. Mathole Motshekga Primary School principal, Tabitha Kulima, said, “These new books will be good because they are written by people who know the local environment, so the material is relevant to our children’s situations.”   The school is composed of 22 portable units and achieved “no-fee” status last year.  It employs 37 teachers working with 1,400 students aged 6 to 13, including many orphans from nearby informal settlements.  The ITHUBA Writing Project will help make sure that they and others across the country become fully literate.

Further information is available from Reverie Zurba, USAID:  (012) 452-2000
Lizelle Langford, READ:  (083) 263-5723
Lunga Ngqengelele, Department of Education: (082) 566-0446

 
Speech from the event

Deputy Chief of U.S. Mission Donald Teitelbaum

"The U.S. Government has enjoyed a longstanding association with South Africa’s Department of Education that formally dates back to 1995

Our current USAID programs are putting Africa Education Initiative resources to a wide variety of good uses. We are:
1. Training thousands of primary school teachers and school governing bodies in rural areas.
2. Supporting, designing and delivering peer education programs that help school children cope with the effects of HIV and AIDS and assist the Department’s Life Skills and gender-focused programs.
3. Providing four-year scholarships to several thousand primary school girls.
4. Developing learning materials like those we are here to launch today.

In addition, our Fulbright and other exchange programs bring dozens of American students, academics and other professionals to South Africa each year, and send dozens of South Africans to the United States on professional learning experiences."     >> FULL TEXT