The Bookery – Home of the Equal Education Book Drive – recently opened its doors at 18 Roeland Street.
“We want stocked, serviced libraries in every single school in South Africa.” These are the words of Richard Conyngham, the co-ordinator of The Bookery.
Interviewed on the premises of The Bookery, Conyngham, a former UCT student who has also completed an MA at Cambridge, stresses what he means by stocked and serviced libraries.
“We mean that libraries should be stocked with a minimum of three books per learner per school. By serviced we mean that the libraries must be co-ordinated by a trained librarian.”
The Bookery is one branch of Equal Education’s campaign for school libraries. Equal Education (EE), which was founded in 2008, is an organization which strives for quality and equilay in the South African education system.
EE came about after a drastic lack of school libraries was identified as a key cause of appalling literacy levels among pupils.
According to Conyngham, only about 7 percent of all public schools have functional school libraries. That means their libraries are stocked with books and managed by a trained librarian.
The Bookery aims to help the school which presently have library space – but no books and no librarian in the Western Cape.
“The idea is to bring in as many suitable books to either high school or primary school kids as possible,”he says. Conyngham, who has been managing the Bookery since January works closely with EE colleagues in Khayelitsha. “The whole organization is engaged in a campaign for school libraries,” he said.
On Human Rights Day, the EE will lead a march to Parliament to hand over signed petitions and a memorandum to the Basic Education Department.
For more information visit www.equaleducation.org.za or if you have suitable books to donate, call 021 461 4189.
