News & Articles

Standard Bank has partnered with the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign to launch a special COVID-19 relief project aimed at helping select communities in Gauteng and Limpopo to navigate and alleviate the disruptions to the 2020 school year and beyond, through the power of stories.  While the pandemic has presented major challenges for most families, the partners have chosen to see the opportunity in the crisis and…

South African author and English associate professor Barbara Boswell says, as a child, she was saved by books and by the care and compassion of the female staff at her local library. She shares her experience of growing up in a home that endured gender-based violence, with the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign.  Late last year, on the day after my 47th birthday, I found myself for the…

South Africa is sadly, a very patriarchal society with outdated ideals and habits which lead to issues of gender-based violence, unequal opportunities for women, the sexual exploitation of women and more. Every month, Nal’ibali – the reading-for-enjoyment campaign – focuses on a different aspect of literacy and literature and unpacks it to make it relevant for children and parents. This month the campaign is looking…

After months of being told that home – away from friends and extended family – is the safest place to be, it is natural that children will be experiencing a range of emotions at the prospect of going back to school. From anticipation and excitement at the idea of seeing their friends to fear and anxiety at the possibility of getting sick or putting…

When government talks about the re-opening of schools it is preoccupied with two things: the coverage of the curriculum and the conduct of year-end examinations. In other words, the planning for reopening, even a phased return to schools, frames children as cognitive machines which need to be oiled so that it can operate smoothly to deliver on pre-planned outcomes. If that metaphor sounds too…