To increase access for parents and educators to the popular bilingual children’s literacy resource – the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment supplement – Times Media will be moving the weekly publication to two new newspaper titles as of April 13, 2014.

Previously published in The Sowetan in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State, the supplement will now appear every Sunday in the Sunday World; and will be moving from The Times to the Sunday Times Express in the Western Cape. The supplement will remain in the Daily Dispatch and The Herald in the Eastern Cape.

Nal’ibali, a national reading-for-enjoyment campaign driven by PRAESA (the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa) in partnership with Times Media, was initiated in 2012 to grow a love of stories and reading among children and the adults in their lives. The supplement contains stories to read as well as information to help make this a reality.  To date, the partnership has produced more than 11-million supplements, in combinations of English-Sesotho, English-Afrikaans, English-isiXhosa and English-isiZulu, with plans to expand to all 11 languages once additional funding is secured.

During school terms, the partners also distribute 30 000 copies of the supplement for free each week to more than 100 reading clubs, as well as to  libraries, literacy organisations and Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres which are part of the Nal’ibali network. The supplement equips reading club leaders, volunteers and caregivers with tips, inspiration and stories to grow a love of reading among the children in their care.

“Promoting reading for enjoyment and providing access to children’s literacy material in their mother tongues is hugely important to Times Media as a partner in the Nal’ibali campaign. When research showed that by moving, particularly to Sunday World, we would be providing access to more educators and parents, as well as to more Sesotho, isiXhosa and isiZulu speakers, we knew that moving was the right decision to make,” comments Patti McDonald, publisher of Times Media Education.

“We also want ensure that caregivers and children spend the maximum amount of time reading together and hope that by moving to Sunday publications they will have more of a chance to do this as they relax over the weekend,” McDonald adds.

Sharing McDonald’s enthusiasm and support for the campaign, Sunday World editor, Abdul Milazi, says: “SundayWorld is excited about carrying the Nal’ibali supplement as this places us at the forefront of nation building and the struggle for true liberation. By encouraging our children to read, we set them off on the path to writing a new chapter of a prosperous future for our country and the rainbow nation.”

Concludes Dr Carole Bloch, director of PRAESA: “We’re thrilled at this great opportunity to help make part of Sundaya special story time for families. We’ve discovered that the more time adults spend with children enjoying and talking about stories, the more their children get the message that reading is interesting and important. A regular Sunday story enjoyed together is a recipe for reading success – in African languages and English!”