Qhawe Bula and his team developed TAQA, a unique digital library of readalong children’s audiobooks produced in South Africa’s 11 official languages and hosted on an app.
STUDENTPRENEURS
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The TAQA
digital library By Niémah Davids & Karin van Laeren
South Africa faces enormous literacy challenges: 78% of grade 4 learners can’t read for meaning. Research indicates that children are likely to learn a second language much faster if they have a firm grasp of their mother tongue. TAQA helps improve children’s ability to read in their mother tongue, which, in turn, helps them to learn how to read and understand a second language much easier. Breaking barriers “With TAQA we really want to help grow a love and affinity for reading and improve children’s competencies in their mother tongue,” said Qhawe. “We want to break down language barriers. They still exist, and doing it will solve many of our problems.” Qhawe said that TAQA believes in the importance of preserving indigenous languages. “Languages are far more than just a medium of instruction. They are holders of spirit, thought, imagination and the history of our people.”
Partnerships
Qhawe Bula
The business has already partnered with internationally recognised, award-winning literacy non-profit organisation Nal’ibali to provide a series of audiobook podcasts produced in seven South African languages. Listen to the TAQA audiobooks here: soundcloud.com/user-840399632
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