Following months of hard work and dedication, the Star Retailers Foundation successfully launched its second “Dream Big Little Reader” project, which saw the official opening of a newly-refurbished resource centre for the learners of Phoenix Pioneer Primary School on Friday, 11 February.
Project manager, Ryan Lee Pillay, said: “We stand by our commitment, The Dream Big Little Reader project campaign aims to promote learning and education from foundation level. We embarked on this campaign because we know that education would improve if children spent more time reading books. Global statistics show that children are struggling to read even basic words and this project’s objective is to improve the literacy levels at schools by adding books that are grade specific, relevant and exciting for the children as well as to promote reading as a life-long learning tool.
“We launched our pilot library at the Rydalvale Primary School on 15 September 2021. Phoenix Pioneer Primary School was selected as our second project, with work commencing in October last year. My team that’s on the ground do not just focus on the refurbishment, Mrs Rena Moses, a seasoned educator who served for over 40 years in the Phoenix community and Wiseman Ndlangamandla, together with school educators, head up a literacy programme for as long as they are placed within the selected school undergoing the revamp. We urge parents to play an active role in ensuring their child’s ability to read and to promote a reading culture at home.”
Addressing educators, learners and esteemed guests, Director of Star Retailers Group and Star Retailers Foundation, Serena Jagadasan, who is committed to community upliftment, stated: “As the wise Maya Angelou said: ‘People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel’, I stand here today in absolute elation, my heart bursting with so much joy as the Star Retailers Foundation presents the launch of our second fully-refurbished primary school library with a total of 3 000 brand-new books. I quoted Maya Angelou, people will never forget how you made them feel, as I have utterly chosen a path for the Star Retailers Foundation that will cultivate my wisdom and compassion. The refurbishment of this library is a beacon of hope for many learners at this school as it is revolutionary and life-changing for generations to come.”
Jagadasan expressed her heartfelt gratitude to everyone who was involved in the library project including the management and staff of Phoenix Pioneer Primary, the Star Retailers Foundation team and generous sponsors. “Team work gives you the best opportunity to turn vision into reality. A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, a man who never reads lives only one,” added Jagadasan.
Principal of Phoenix Pioneer Primary, Mrs N Chetty, thanked the Jagadasan family and said the school had many intervention strategies in place to promote reading amongst learners and educators.
“We believe that with much given to us, we have to deliver. We have secured Ms Loraine Pillay from Reach316, who has already put mechanisms in place so that we can have a person employed to open the doors of our library on Saturdays and after school. We have also initiated a programme that will involve 50 learners from Crawford School who will be coming to our school every Saturday morning to help and teach 50 children from our school how to read. Our reading ambassadors will be formally inducted on 21 February.”
Should the members of the community require more information, email Ryan Lee Pillay at ryanlee@starretailers.co.za.
