Literacy programme – The Rotarians’ Dictionary for Life - D4L (Developing Countries Edition) - Context
Education, is a fundamental human right and an essential tool for development. It plays a key role in eradicating poverty, promoting human and social development and ensuring sustainable development, peace and democracy. Improving the learning environment and teaching/learning process allows the child to develop competence in talking, writing, and reading each of which are essential components in improving their quality of education. This project has been established to support the school infrastructure in place, and to provide additional learning material in the form of school dictionaries, for these rural disadvantaged children.
This project supports Rotary International’s literacy goals. It will benefit pupils from the age of 9 to adulthood attending at least 50 schools within the catchment areas. The dictionaries will be issued to schools on a locally determined needs basis at no cost to the recipients.
Needs assessment
There are 10s of thousands of Zulus living in scattered communities over their homeland of Zululand. Some of the more fortunate communities have a school but books and other educational materials are in very short supply. There is a particular need for materials to support the development of English as a second language.
Whilst the Government will fund teaching support it does not have funds to build schools, let alone provide text materials for the learners. Pictorial dictionaries are not therefore on their radar. This project is therefore so important. Many rural Zulu children, coming from a disadvantaged background, have never seen the inside of a library, let alone experienced the use of dictionaries, something that is so common to many of us, and taken for granted. For children from those families, having a book to read is just a dream.
The low quality of education in the rural areas of KwaZulu Natal results from prolonged neglect. Poverty and inaccessibility to books, combined with a previous environment discouraging intellectual stimulation has led to the absence of reading for many in rural KwaZulu children's lives. This has seriously constrained the children's imagination, academic performances and life perspectives.
The community surrounding the school is extremely poor, with grandparents having to bring children up on state pensions. Most of the children can’t afford to pay the school fees, and are exempt from paying the minimal fees required each month, and there are others that are partially exempted from paying, so the school really suffers great financial losses each month. Dictionaries are regarded as a luxury item
What the project will achieve
It would not be realistic to expect instant improvement in the situation, but it is expected that these learners will eventually benefit from this great gift. The project will support learning programmes for young people in one of the poorest regions in South Africa. It will advance the understanding of English as a second language, and thereby help pupils progress wider educational and employment opportunities.
It is hoped that this new Literacy project aimed at rural schools within Northern KwaZulu Natal, will open new horizons for these young people and provide academic stimulus and enrichment. Pictorial dictionaries will provide these children with motivation, exposure to good language models and nurture English as a second language. It will enable the children to acquire general knowledge: A scaffold of further learning. This project will hopefully raise student achievements, increasing educational expectations, and foster lifelong learning.
This is a short term investment project offering long returns for the children and young adults it will benefit..
Selection methodology and criteria
Schools who have benefited from prior matching grant projects carried out by our clubs and schools with which the Rotary Club of Ballito know and have worked closely with over the past few years will be given priority to receiving books, The management and use of the dictionary stock will be a matter for each school to determine after discussion with representatives of the host club project committee.
In summary,
The project, supported by 30 Clubs in D1260, will fund the purchase and shipment of some 4,110 Usborne Illustrated Dictionaries for Life (D4L) for use by poor pupils in at least 50 rural Zulu schools in and around the area of Ballito, Northern KwaZulu Natal.
Timescale:
Given the lead time from placing an order for a publishing run and delivery, the host and International Committees will implement the project within 14 months of the Trustees approval to the project.
Photos
The photo below (left) depicts a typical African classroom ... a structure, a teacher but little else. Photo: Philippe Lamoise.
The D4L photo is by courtesy of http://www.dictionary4life.com/ | 
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