PRAESA director Dr Carole Bloch recently published a column in the Sunday World on the Nal’ibali campaign, aimed at developing multilingual children’s literature: We are all aware that increasing attention has been focused on the development of reading culture and on...

Teaching children with great stories offers the chance to counter prejudice and bigotry, by encouraging empathy and nurturing a sense of justice. This is why we need to know what stories are available, choose carefully and use languages children understand.

Socrates told us that all thinking begins with wonder. Nobody would dispute the need for developing thoughtful citizens, but just how do we develop a sense of wonder in children? Through stories, of course!

A recent proposal by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) is to do away with the national catalogue of eight books per subject per grade, and to approve only one book, is predicted to damage further South Africa’s already poor educational outcomes.

In South Africa, most of the adults who spend time with children in their various capacities as parents, teachers, care­givers, adopters or custodians, do not regularly read aloud to them. And even if they do, with repeated readings of favourite storybooks, most can’t sustain the activity long enough for it to become a habit.

The aim of the Q&A series is to get an inside look into some of South Africa’s leading education academics, policy-makers and activists. This is the twenty-third interview in the series. Carole Bloch is Director of PRAESA.