PRAESA. Award Laureates 2015 1
PRAESA, Project for the Study of Alternative Educ
ation in South Africa, is an organisation that works to promote reading and literature for children and young people in South Africa. Seeking to help young readers discover the joy of books and storytelling, PRAESA combines the latest research with creative methods to find new ways to bring children and literature together. PRAESA was founded in 1992 by the anti-apartheid activist and academic Neville Alexander, who was held for ten years as a political prisoner alongside Nelson Mandela on Robben Island. From the 1980s until his death in 2012, Alexander worked to raise awareness of multilingualism as a key to personal and societal development. His objective was to offer children schooling and literature in their native tongues. As he put it: “We have to begin to use other African languages in powerful ways.” Originally established as a research and development unit attached to Cape Town University, PRAESA today is an independent organisation based in Cape Town. In the 1990s, current director Carole Bloch and coordinator Ntombizanele Mahobe partnered with Battswood Primary School in Cape Town to develop models for teaching reading and writing in multiple languages. With this project, PRAESA became one of the first organisations in South Africa to use books in different languages to help build a culture of reading that motivates and inspires children to read. PRAESA has three core goals: to provide children with high-quality literature in the various South African languages; to collaborate with and foster new networks among publishers and reading promotion organisations; and to initiate and carry out activities that support and sustain a culture of reading and storytelling in socially vulnerable communities. South Africa is a country of 11 official languages, with a large gap between poor schools in rural areas and townships and urban schools with stronger resources. PRAESA was an early advocate of using literature and stories in literacy instruction. It has also addressed fundamental questions of how to support school systems in vulnerable areas and how to encourage bilingual or multilingual teaching.