Lusikisiki is a small town surrounded by many villages. Most of these villages have overcrowded classrooms with a lack of resources which include no stationeries, and limited reading and writing material.
The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces known for poor academic performance in our public schools. One of the main reasons contributing to the poor performance of learners is a lack of reading material.
When faced with such challenges educators rely on other sources of information such as libraries. Unfortunately for Lusikisiki there is only one public library which is supposed to feed information to the entire town and it’s villages.
The Lusikisiki public library is located outside of town some few kilometer away from most schools. There are a few schools which are within a 5 kilometer radius from the library but the distance is still not convenient.
Schools in town and in villages not closer to the Lusikisiki public library do not have any access to library books. The funding of the library is limited to what is set by the provincial board. There is no alternative such as mobile libraries put by the municipality to reach children who are far from the library.
A few high school and junior secondary school leaners who know where the public library is, complain about the library being too far. Most of these leaners do not even know where the public library is located and have never visited the library.
Lumka Matiwane a librarian at the Lusikisiki public library says they do have books even though the books may not be aligned to the leaners curriculum but they do have the books that are suitable for every one even school leaners. The library staff say they also host events that are targeted at making reading fashionable and interesting to leaners. They say they invite leaners to their events and are glad how much leaners are enjoying these events.
“High school and primary school leaners from schools around the Goso area do visit the library but after school so that’s after 3pm because that’s the only time they have. And they stay for only 1 hour 30 minutes because we close at 16:30 and not open on weekends. Leaners from Bikithsa J.S.S and Goso Forest visit the library for research purposes and a few come after school to read for interest.” Said Lumka Matiwane a librarian of Lusikisik public library.
Although the library staff claim to have hosted games, events and competitions for leaners to keep them interested in reading. There is no leaner or teacher even from the schools closest to the library that knows about these events or have ever spoken to a library staff from the Lusikisiki public library.
Educators of leaners who go to schools located in the Goso area which is witgin a 5 km radius of the library say it is impossible for their children to walk such a long distance just to visit a library. They say if the library was closer maybe their children would visit. These educators say the library is not placed in a strategic area.
“I Have never visited the library before, I know where it is but whenever I pass by it I see it closed, no one has ever come to our school to tell us about the library. No one has ever explained to me that there is a library open for anyone to come. Maybe if someone told me about it I would go and get a book.” Said a 15 year old grade 9 leaner from Goso Forest J.S.S.
Mr Mdiya who is a deputy principal at village J.S.S says leaners in general need to be encouraged to read because they are not interested in reading.
“We do not have a school library and our public library is not resourceful enough. Owning our own library for us would be a luxury.” Said Mr Mdiya.
Mr Nkosana a mathematics teacher explains that in his experience he has proved that not only does reading improve the vocabulary of leaners but it also improves a leaners ability to think independently. He says that leaners who read more have less difficulties during assessments because they are able to engage extensively in a task.
