National Reading Coalition collaborated with NAPTOSA, Kwa-Zulu Natal teachers’ union during the month of August in support of their Women’s Day events. Four events were held across the province, in Umlazi South, Pietermaritzburg, Stanger and Berea/Newlands area, with over 580 teachers attending.

At each event, the work and message of the National Reading Coalition (NRC) was shared, and teachers were introduced to the work and value chain areas of the NRC.

Teachers were encouraged to lead by example and to model a love for reading themselves and to assist, teachers were given some popular books from the NRC. Titles included ‘’Winnie Mandela: A life’’ by Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob, ‘Always another country’’ by Sisonke Msimang, ‘’Grit’’ by Angela Duckworth and ‘’Outliers’’ by Malcolm Gladwell.

Teachers were encouraged to start book clubs in their schools and reading corners in their classrooms. Heather Dixon and Kabelo Mosate from attended the women’s day event in Stanger, Illembe on 28 August where over 50 NAPTOSA teachers attended.

The NRC is initially targeting 25% of education circuits across each province in South Africa, to pilot the NRC the NECT has adopted 22 of those – and encourages other organisations to adopt other circuits. The two circuits that NRC and NECT are beginning work in in KZN are Molweni in Pinetown, and Mandeni in Illembe.