EE rejects DoE's statement on school libraries ^Featured

EE has costed the provision of a functional library to every single school in South Africa currently lacking a library. This research will soon be publicly available. To build an 80m2 library in all approximately 20,000 schools in need would cost significantly less than the 10 World Cup stadiums. If a national roll-out of school libraries was undertaken over a 10-year period including infrastructure, materials, training of libraries, and salaries for full-time library administrators, the annual cost over those ten years would be only 1.5% of the DoE’s R139bn annual budget. After the first ten years, once infrastructure, materials and training have been provided, the cost would reduce to 0.9% of the DoE’s annual budget. This is very affordable and not “unattainable”.

The comment by Ms Mokgatlhe on behalf of the DoE suggests that a school-library is not a necessity, and can be achieved through other mechanisms, such as “collections”, “mobile libraries”, and “community libraries”. Firstly, EE would like to make clear that we do not have a dogmatic approach and would welcome serious steps by the DoE. But as yet, no policy and no plan exist. Secondly, the DoE should be cautioned about short-cuts.

In response to Ms Mokgatlhe, Prof Genevieve Hart of the University of the Western Cape (UWC), who sits of the Advisory Committee for EE’s Campaign for School Libraries, and is regarded as one of South Africa’s experts on school libraries, says the following:

“I fear that we are going to have to learn the lesson all over again that other countries (and sections of SA schooling) learned in the middle of the 20th century. Books spread across a school soon disappear from general sight or stay locked up. The materials being sent into schools are best placed in a library where they will be managed well and made accessible to those who need them. Computer rooms do not replace a library as they are in use for much of the day for computer lessons.”

Further, in regard to community libraries, EE would like to point out that it is not good enough for the DoE to offload its responsibilities onto the Department of Arts & Culture and municipalities who provide public libraries. For the majority of children in South Africa, these public libraries provide their only access to books. There are no books in most homes, and children, from the age of 7 – when they are supposed to learn to read – are expected to travel large, often unsafe distances to access reading material in public libraries. Further, anyone entering a township public library on a weekday afternoon during the school term will find the place crammed full, with young people queuing for hours to access books, computers and photocopy machines. This can render the public library unusable for the adult public, and also makes it difficult for young people to use it as a quiet place for homework and exam preparations. Lastly, public librarians, who do a sterling job, are not trained in terms of the school curriculum.

In regard to the efforts Ms Mokgatlhe claims the DoE is making: Has the DoE investigated what happens to library books when they arrive in the schools? (According to the draft Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure mentioned above, 80 percent of schools are “without library stocks”.) What is their impact on the school?  Does the DoE have evidence that their claimed strategies can replace libraries?

Many former Model C schools make the decision every year to spend their precious funds on libraries. This shows that when resources are available, educators are quick to realise the benefit of a functioning library. If the DoE asked teachers and learners across the country to comment on their strategies to compensate for libraries, rather than provide them, they would soon find that there is a huge demand for libraries at all levels of schooling.

Professor Hart also states:

“Return on Investment (ROI) studies show that money spent on libraries is well spent – in terms of academic results and literacy levels.  There are other benefits less easy to measure such as the stocks of social and intellectual capital a library builds in a school community. A library just adds value to all aspects of a school's life. The question should perhaps be ‘What are the costs to South Africa of NOT having school libraries?’”

EE has collected 20,000 signatures demanding a National Policy on School Libraries. We will continue to campaign until this is in place. The public is invited to join nationwide events on 21 March 2010 demanding One School, One Library, One Librarian.


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Issued by: Lukhanyo Mangona
Head of Campaigns Department
Equal Education
0825958600
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