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Ethekwini Municipal Libraries 2nd report to June 2002

There were 415 learners in the programme by the end of June. Most learners have completed Stages 1 and 2 of the literacy curriculum. This means they have made steady progress, from letter-shaping and learning to write their first words and sentences, as far as being able to read simple sentences and make new sentences of their own. They can generally express themselves simply in writing.

This learning period has been the most difficult for learners. They struggle to memorise letter shapes and their combinations, and to reflect these on paper, and sometimes they themselves can see little progress from the beginning of a lesson to the end. It is a time when learners wonder whether they are ever going to learn to read and write, and they blame themselves for not making faster progress. There is danger of drop-out at this point as their sense of personal achievement falters. The teacher has to make lessons so useful and interesting that learners come to class anyway, by including topical, relevant information as themes in the lessons and by using a variety of classroom activities.

In most cases learners have been able to work through this challenging time. In July the vast majority will write the tests which take them through into Stage 3, where they will be reading full pages of text, writing paragraphs, letters and stories, and developing text comprehension skills. At the end of the next quarter we hope they will pass mock Level 1 examinations.

Attendance at classes has been good although it has dropped a little in a few classes. In these situations, learners have to walk a distance to reach the venue and the classes are at night. The combination of early darkness and the evening cold of June have discouraged a few: we expect attendance to pick up once winter ends and the days last longer.

Recruitment has been slow for three of the classes: this has been due to the influence of community problems. In two areas, there has been opposition to the establishment of the classes, and potential learners have been afraid to enroll, and in one area the teacher was not accepted. She was replaced. Operation Upgrade is working on the wider community issues, together with personnel from the eThekwini Municipal library service.

In other areas, learner enrolment is still very high, and classes are large. There is steady enrolment of new learners as people hear about the classes and ask to join. We have reached the point where we are accepting new learners whose literacy skill is at least at the Stage 2 level.

We regret to report that there have been six deaths among our learners. Although we do not have full information on these, the stories we have been told indicate that these deaths could be attributed to AIDS-related causes.

Thirty-seven people have dropped out of the programme, in most cases for personal reasons such as finding employment, moving away from the area, illness, and family responsibilities.

The nineteen teachers now in the programme are all committed to the programme goals. (One teacher has two classes as the demand for literacy is very great in her area.) This programme has provided employment for these young people, and for many, employment was a primary motivation for entering the programme. For many, the programme has begun to offer job satisfaction as well, as they see how important literacy is in their learners’ lives. The teachers are very proud that their learners have begun to read and write.

A mentor, who carries a visit checklist and a load of stationery in her car, has visited every teacher each month. During a visit, the attendance register is checked, stationery is issued to teacher and learners, the teacher’s file of lesson plans and the learners’ writing books are checked, and the lesson is observed. The mentors talk to the learners to see if they are satisfied and all is well. If the teacher has a problem, the mentor gives advice, and tips on lesson conduct.

Each teacher has given three lessons a month on aspects of family health.

There is still a desperate shortage of chalkboards. The teachers have to use costly flipcharts and thick pens, which are supplied monthly. Application has been made to a donor for funding for the purchase of chalkboards.

Each month the teachers attend a workshop, which handles operational problems and deals with common teaching problems identified by the mentors. In this quarter the workshops were held on 26th April, 31st May and 28th June.

Fifteen teachers attended a five-day course in growing vegetables, so that they could start vegetable gardens with their learners. (Teachers from the Operation Upgrade ‘pool’ had already received this training.) In addition an unemployed gardener from a nearby informal settlement attended the training: Operation Upgrade will ask him to travel to the literacy vegetable garden projects to support the process. The course covered:

• The contribution of vegetables to family health
• Preparation of the vegetable beds as fertility trenches with alternate layers of soil and vegetable waste
• Planting seeds and seedlings
• Methods of protecting the vegetable crop
• Crop rotation
• The planting seasons
• Care of tools
• Watering and weeding

Two teachers have already organised the preparation of vegetable gardens with their learners.

In April Operation Upgrade submitted a proposal to SHELL South Africa for funds to provide tools and seed for the planned twenty gardens. The company replied in May asking that the amount sought be reduced: a new proposal for the establishment of five vegetable gardens and the purchase of ten chalkboards was submitted. Firm response from the donor is awaited but indications are that it will be positive.

Funding must be found for the other fifteen garden projects. Operation Upgrade has held discussions with the Parks and Health Departments of the municipality: neither organisation has funds available for the purchase of garden tools and vegetable seed. For each garden operated by twenty learners, there is need to purchase R1000 worth of tools and to spend R2000 on seed in a year. This would enable the twenty learners each to produce vegetables to feed their families for a year, so that an estimated 1200 people would have improved family nutrition. This estimate is for one group only - there are twenty groups.

The urban agriculture aspect of the library literacy programme is being held up due to lack of funding. Operation Upgrade is approaching South African Breweries for funding for another five gardens, and is seeking other interested donors to support the remaining ten garden projects.

A two-day training programme was held for all teachers in April. They learned about family health and worked through Impilo Enhle Iqala Ekhaya, (Good Health begins At Home) a Zulu literacy teacher’s programme to provide family health lessons for literacy classes.

They each received a copy of the 77-page manual, together with 28 key picture codes, A3 size, for stimulating discussion on family health topics. They developed lesson plans to integrate the health topics into literacy lessons.

Since the workshop the teachers have been observed to be including family health lessons in their classes.

Work has begun on compiling a list of readers and reference materials which will be suitable for literacy-learner members of community libraries.

Community work, which is a component in setting up and managing a literacy programme, is never ‘plain sailing’. Conflicting interests often impede development interventions, and the library literacy programme is no exception. People who would like to learn to read and write may be told not to come to class by someone who feels he or she has something to gain or lose if the literacy class goes on. Sometimes it’s a matter of national politics working at local level, and sometimes someone who wants to gain financially from a literacy programme sees the library literacy programme as a threat. Sometimes husbands do not wish their wives to become literate. Sometimes the learners themselves wish to keep benefits from the programme within their local community, and so they object if offered a teacher who is not local. In some communities more than one of these influences is operating.

We have been fortunate so far that fifteen of the twenty classes are accepted within their communities and that enrolment is therefore high. The five classes with less than twenty learners are located within difficult community situations. We are fortunate to have the combined strength of the EMLS literacy personnel and the EMLS department, to join the Operation Upgrade community work staff to work on these problems. We hope to have them resolved in the next quarter.

The library literacy programme is generally doing well. If literacy learning continues as it is doing now, we expect good results from the November examinations. Operation Upgrade will continue to provide teacher support and monitor learner progress. The urban agriculture aspect of the programme needs particular attention; the learners and teachers are ready to start once funding is obtained.

Originally, it was planned that library branches would use TELKOM’s dial-up services to access the Internet. However, it was felt that this was not sustainable in the long run as the Library Department has no control over local telephone call charges. After some investigation, it was decided that it will be cost effective to use a 24 hour/day link to an Internet service provider and, in fact, the capital cost of equipment (firewall, etc) came to within a few hundred rand of the total three year cost of a dial-up service but this provides a much improved service to patrons.

Only 4 out of the initial 10 branches utilise TELKOM Diginet (data) circuits which are a requirement for on-line Internet access and can thus use the Internet resources immediately. The PCs in the other six branches which still use analogue (twisted pair) circuitry may be used in stand-alone mode while the analogue circuits are replaced as part of a separate upgrade program. As soon as Diginet circuits are installed, patrons will be able to access the Internet.

The original proposed goals of installing Internet enabled PC facilities in branch libraries has been adhered to.

Overall, the project is running about 4 months behind schedule but this arrears will be caught up during 2002. The delay was caused by extra time needed to develop the abovementioned solution and such a delay, being on-off in nature, will not be repeated. Further delays were caused by suppliers and in some instances, site preparation. Again, these are considered one-off delays, as they were part of the installation learning curve and will not be repeated as check lists have been developed as part of the initial installations.

Library staff training, to facilitate patron assistance and for research work, is part of this project and this is on track. Staff at branches where the PCs have been installed, have received basic PC skills and MS Office training. Internet training is being given, when each branch is connected to the Internet to ensure that skills learnt on the courses are put to use immediately.

The only change which has occurred is that Angela Spenser, who was the project co-ordinator from the library aspect, dealing with staff training, survey and patron matters, has been promoted into another department. Her role has been split between two people, as there was no one else with Angela’s mix of skills. The one person handles staff liaison and training and the other handles community/patron liaison.

The technical side of the project, including procurement, remains unchanged under John Mayor’s management. What still poses a problem is how to administer changes for internet use, printing and the control of time. The procurement of further PCs and printers to meet the project goal of 60 PCs, or more funding permitting.