In South Africa, men are taught to read to children and tell stories — Daily Maverick
In South Africa, the Nal’ibali Men’s Literacy Imbizo initiative holds public workshops for men on reading aloud, storytelling and play-based learning for children. The programme was launched in 2022 in the city of Kariega, Eastern Cape province, to involve fathers and male mentors in developing children’s reading skills.
As Daily Maverick reports, one of the project’s initiators was Madoda Ndlakuse, an author and community development coordinator at the national organisation Nal’ibali. He said that over ten years of promoting reading, he had noticed limited participation by men in educating their own children.
Workshops in two provinces
Since its founding, the project teams have held events in six cities in the Eastern Cape, as well as in areas of the Western Cape province. Participants are taught how to read aloud to children, tell stories and use learning through play. They are also invited to recall their own childhood experiences connected with books and reading.
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Librarian Ntsika Scott from the Nelson Mandela Bay libraries said that he had previously viewed reading primarily as an academic activity. In his view, the workshops focus on ensuring that children have access to books and stories, as well as a person who will read with them.
A response to the reading crisis
Programme participant Thando Mkoyi, a board member of the Dlala Tata organisation in Khayelitsha, said that Nal’ibali’s free materials had become useful for work with families receiving social assistance. This includes encouraging reading aloud, early communication with children, storytelling and play.
Ndlakuse referred to the results of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, released in 2023: 81% of South African fourth-grade pupils had difficulty reading for comprehension. He called the Men’s Literacy Imbizo one of the strategies for addressing this problem and stressed that education can also take place within families.
