Portavue Primary School is asking the public to donate books to its new library, which was officially opened last week.
The 56-year-old school in Surrey Estate opened its library on Thursday September 8, and the launch was attended by school governing body members, special guests, and school prefects who sang the national anthem. Pupils from various grades also read poems.
Deputy principal Shamima Lombard said paging through a book beat reading from a tablet or phone. She said that many of the books in the library were old and precious and pupils needed to look after them.
“We are need of donations of more current books to fill the empty shelves in the library. Our dream is to extend the library to an outside reading garden, which we will use in the summer months so that pupils can get away from the masses and just sit and relax in a quiet place and read,” she said.
Head girl Kayley Titus said the library would motivate pupils to read more often, and it would also be a safe place for them to study, do their homework and research projects.
“I am a tad bit disappointed that we are leaving and the library is done now. As Grade 7s, we are donating R1150 toward the library. The library will encourage pupils to read more books and improve their vocabulary and speech. The more we read the wiser we become. Reading takes us places and allows us to travel through our imaginations, right around the whole world,“ she said.
The vice chairwoman of the school governing body, Nadine Schrader, said that she preferred “old school reading” and she recalled how teachers at Portavue always encouraged reading when she was a pupil at the school.
“Knowledge is power and power lies in reading. People can rob you of your belongings, but they can’t rob you of your mind and your knowledge. Knowledge will lead to wisdom. Children come from impoverished areas and some of them have to look after their siblings after school so they don’t have the time to go to the library and it’s often not safe, so having access to public libraries is limited. Having a library on the premises is a wonderful initiative,” she said.