Educational Resources to Under-Resourced Schools in the Limpopo Province: Proposed Library Model

Abstract

Universally, the significance of adequately resourced and well-staffed libraries to improve teaching and learning accomplishments in under-resourced schools cannot be overemphasised. In South Africa, resource provision is still a daunting challenge adversely affecting the quality of the results of learners. It is a distressing fact that, even in the post-apartheid South Africa, only a few (7%) schools have well-stocked and functioning libraries. One of the outcomes of this largely quantitative study was to propose a library model that the author hopes can be implemented to offer effective library and information services for schools - particularly in disadvantaged rural communities. Given the way in which the majority of South African schools are distributed in disadvantaged rural communities, the study recommends a cluster school library model that involves a number of schools in a particular circuit office being serviced by one well-equipped stand-alone library (cluster library) under the education library services of the provincial Department of Basic Education.