Rural schools suffer many deprivations, but none so severe as the shortage of libraries, writes Lizeka Mda
Alan Paton most certainly did not have Moletlane in mind when he wrote the line: Ah, but your land is beautiful.
This village, some 56km east of Potgietersrus in the Northern Province, typifies what the bantustans symbolised arid pieces of land where Africans were tucked away from the white conscience and consciousness.
It is in this semi-wasteland that Shikoane Primary School is situated. With its cracked, filthy walls and dusty courtyard, the environment is so dire its a wonder any learning takes place at all.
The 600-odd pupils are very unlikely to discover Alan Paton in the near future. They also know nothing about Professor Eskia Mphahlele, one of the countrys literary giants, who lives just 23km from their school. Unless the Department of Education decides to prescribe one of his books. With minimum resources, a library for these children is a pipe dream.
They only encounter books in the classroom, and in the main these are set texts. At the back of the standard five class is a ramshackle shelf structure where the mathematics and biology textbooks are kept. They are at such an advanced state of ruin there are hardly any with a complete cover.
Only one pupil in this, the highest standard before secondary school, has a vague idea of what a library is. Isnt it that place where books are kept? he guesses, referring to the school storeroom. In this storeroom, under lock and key, are several thousand books, the majority of which are brand new but outdated textbooks.
Simon Setumo, the standard five teacher, says many of these books were already there when he first came to teach at Shikoane in 1985. They are of no use to us, he says, but we do not know what to do with them.
Mike Phaahla, the acting regional librarian for the provinces southern region, says most schools are in the same situation as Shikoane, lumbered with thousands of books that are not relevant to the syllabus anymore, yet taking up valuable space.
Some suppliers in the old regime just dumped these obsolete books on schools. As the library service, we cannot take them either. We have decided to go the recycling route, and are advising schools accordingly.
What is obvious is that the Northern Province, the poorest in the country, inherited, along with four former bantustans, a host of problems, one of which was the complete neglect of the provision of libraries. Bantu education was not about critical thinking and independent self-study, after all.
Apart from so-called national libraries in the former homeland capitals, none of the schools serving African communities had libraries when the new government took over. The only school libraries that existed in the province were in white schools. Now it is the policy of the provincial Department of Education that no school will be considered complete without a library.
According to a phased development plan, ultimately each school will have its own school library or media centre, which will be fully integrated with the schools curricular and extracurricular programmes. There are also plans for close co-operation between public and school libraries.
To that end, the provinces Directorate of Libraries, Museums and Archive Services has drawn six regions which ignore the old borders, but this introduces new problems.
Moletlane village falls under the central region, whose headquarters are supposed to be in Lebowakgomo, the capital of the former Lebowa. Yet the librarian in charge of this region, Carol Wienand, is based in Pietersburg, 64km away, in the former Transvaal Provincial Administration offices.
Shikoane Primary School does not even know of the existence of the regional library, let alone the directorate of libraries.
This comes as a surprise to Meshack Mulaudzi, the director. He has just completed a tour of the regions where he met he thought all the relevant inspectors, teacher librarians and principals.
We rely on regional librarians to feed us and the schools information. Unfortunately there are some regional librarians who do not want to visit these rural areas even though they are under their jurisdiction.
Which means the directorates stated mission to establish, maintain and render a sound, client-oriented, equity-based library and information service is a long way from being realised.
A quick glance at the report on the provinces 833 service points, 604 of which are schools, indicates that the white minority still benefit disproportionately from the library service. Afrikaans fiction was the category best utilised with 39% of the circulation. Non-fiction followed at 32%, while English fiction was the least utilised at 29%.
This is just one symptom of the old system his directorate has inherited, says Mulaudzi.
We are still trying to change the old way of thinking to be in line with a new reality, that public libraries are no longer just recreational resources for wealthy whites, but are vital for millions of black people who need to fill an educational vacuum.
Mulaudzi says his biggest problem is a lack of funding. His R3,2-million budget for libraries this year has been stretched to the limit, even though most of the posts have not been filled for lack of qualified staff.
Due to meagre funds, schools are being supplied with library resources only if they request them in writing and if the department is satisfied that there is a place to keep the books and someone responsible for them.
Unfortunately this placing of the onus on the resourcefulness of the principal condemns children at thousands of schools to conditions similar to those of Shikoane Primary School.
Setumo, who teaches English and health education, is not overly enthusiastic about the idea of a library. The children would tear up the books anyway, he says. One wonders what value he attaches to reading himself if he has not taught the children what a library is.
The environment is apathetic, says Eskia Mphahlele. Ke mosomo wa mmuso (Thats the job of the government) is what one hears all the time. People do not even want to monitor what the government is (not) doing.
He does not think much of the regional library in Lebowakgomo. Its off the beaten track, hidden behind some bushes. There are not many people who go there. They have a few reference titles and a hotchpotch of texts. Theres very little order. But that is a province-wide problem.
At some stage I wanted to donate my own library to the Department of Education, but when I saw how dismally it was run, I hesitated. There is a new MEC now, but I am still holding on to my library. Its bleak out here.