Pretoria - The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has been awarded a UNESCO International Literacy Award for its Kha Ri Gude mass literacy campaign.
The department will receive the 2016 UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy at a ceremony to be held in Paris on Thursday, 8 September.
The Kha Ri Gude mass literacy campaign was launched in 2008 to fulfil the ambitions of the Freedom Charter.
“The campaign recruits volunteers, who make up the thousands of community-based coordinators, supervisors and educators that run literacy courses every year since the inception of the campaign.
“The volunteers teach at community-based learning centres across the country as well as at informal venues such as backyards, local churches and even bus-shelters,” said the department.
To date, the campaign has touched 4.7 million people across the country. Its main focus is basic literacy and numeracy skills for people who never had the opportunity to learn to read and write.
“The UNESCO Jury appreciated the Kha Ri Gude programme for its well-developed mass literacy campaign that applied scientific research on how illiterate adults read.
“The panel found it impressive that since its inception in 2008, the programme had taught urban and rural based adults in 11 official languages, including Braille,” said the department.
Since 1967, UNESCO has awarded International Literacy Prizes to outstanding and innovative programmes that promote literacy. This year, the awards are held under the theme, ‘Innovation in Literacy’.
The department said its Minister Angie Motshekga will be represented by the South African Ambassador to France and Permanent Representative to UNESCO, Rapulane Molekane, who will receive the award on behalf of the department and country.
“The Department of Basic Education is proud of all those who have been involved in Kha Ri Gude over the past eight years, and this award is testament to the hard work and dedication of the officials as well as the volunteers and participants of the Kha Ri Gude mass literacy campaign,” said the department. - SAnews.gov.za
