Challenges in establishing and maintaining functional school libraries: Lessons from Limpopo Province,South Africa

Introduction and background to the study

The significance of a legislated school library policy in championing, advocating and spearheading effective school library development initiatives world-wide cannot be overemphasised. However, most governments, particularly in poor and developing African countries, are hesitant to pledge themselves through a legislated school library policy to roll out an active, dynamic and sustainable library and information service (LIS) for their schools to improve the standard and quality of education. In South Africa, providing schools with a decent, standardised, well-resourced and well-staffed LIS is even more challenging because of the inheritance of the past apartheid education system prior to 1994. Consequently, the schooling system is still characterised by rampant and massive disparities and inadequate resource provision which impacts negatively on teaching and learning accomplishments in schools.

Prinsloo (2002: 56) asserts that: ‘The education challenge within South Africa is largely framed by the economic challenges facing the nation. The economic challenges are characterised most starkly by deep inequalities, high levels of poverty and unemployment and slow economic growth’. Thirteen years after this statement was published, nothing much has changed in this country. With high poverty levels particularly in historically disadvantaged and marginalised rural communities, economic challenges are the order of the day. In South Africa, the apartheid system calculatedly privileged whites at the expense of the other racial groupings (blacks, coloureds and Indians). Inequalities, poverty, unequal schooling, unemployment and slow economic growth are some of the circumstantial realities and challenges still affecting the country. In their study in KwaZulu-Natal, Du Toit and Stilwell (2012: 121) observe that:

The demographic and socio-economic environments present a major stumbling block to the provision of education in the province. The learning environment is compromised by the challenges of rural education such as a lack of running water, poor sanitation, inadequate access to electricity, poor infrastructure and transport problems. In many schools, the language of instruction is seldom spoken beyond the classroom. Critical health issues such as malaria, bilharzia, and the high prevalence of HIV and AIDS have resulted in a decline in teacher numbers, a loss of expertise, and an increase in the numbers of orphans and out-of-school youths. In the classroom, these conditions have translated into poor concentration, absenteeism and lack of motivation for teachers and learners alike.

These are some of the contextual factors and challenges which hinder the provision of quality education in all South African schools and which directly or indirectly affect day-to-day teaching and learning endeavours in classrooms. Funmilayo (2013: 103–104) reiterates that ‘the problem areas in the development of school libraries in Nigeria include lack of legislation, shortage of funds, poor accommodation, unavailability of trained staff, lack of relevant material and apathy on part of school administration and government’ and Seroto (2011: 138) explains that: ‘The challenges facing rural education in South Africa prior to 1994 were mainly shaped by political and economic factors, with state policies playing a role in ensuring that rural communities were marginalised and neglected’.

In South Arica, ‘the right to education has been achieved by making basic education compulsory, and the introduction of no-fee schools has gone a long way in achieving the goal of access to education for all’ (Paton-Ash and Wilmot, 2013: 127). Subsequently, primary schools in particular are characterised by high learner enrolments to effect compulsory basic education. The Government’s will to provide a quality education is evidenced by the increasing amount of funds allocated to the national Department of Basic Education. However, as observed by Hart and Zinn (2007) and cited by Paton-Ash and Wilmot (2013: 138) ‘despite this increased expenditure, the inequalities due to past policy have not been addressed”. Talk of the provision of quality education remains rhetorical in South Africa, particularly in poor and rural provinces such as Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo, because of inadequate and uneven allocation of a wide range of educational resources in schools (Motseke, 2005). Seroto (2011: 140) adds that:

[T]hree provinces in particular, namely the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo, are classified as predominantly rural as they have incorporated most of the former rural homelands. Homelands were predominantly populated by black South Africans, engaged in the production of crops and livestock mainly for own consumption or for sale on local, informal markets. Between 1960 and 1985, more than 3.5 million black people were forcibly relocated to homeland areas. It is in these three provinces where the majority of learners are found. Out of 12.3 million learners in 2009, two million are in the Eastern Cape, 2.8 million are in KwaZulu-Natal and 1.8 million are in Limpopo. The remaining provinces have relatively lower learner enrolment. These three provinces are characterised by areas, which can only be accessed with difficulty because they are geographically isolated, and satisfy most of the criteria for rural education … .

Because of a dire shortage of adequate classrooms for teaching and learning, most rural schools are not conducive to providing free basic education as desired by the post-apartheid government in South Africa. With dilapidated infrastructure in most schools, safety of the learners is highly compromised. There is a huge backlog in the provision of fixed classrooms in the majority of the schools across the country evidenced by the high number of mobile classrooms in most schools, particularly in historically disadvantaged and underprivileged rural communities, townships and informal settlements. In Eastern Cape, mud schools still feature in the province. In disadvantaged rural communities, because of inadequate water supply, sanitation is still a daunting challenge in most schools. According to the National Education Infrastructure Management System Standard reports (NEIMS, 2015), out of 3831 schools assessed in Limpopo, only 398 (10.3%) have flush toilets while learners in 2537 (66.2%) schools use pit toilets which pose risks to the learners’ safety. The same trend is also apparent in rural provinces in South Africa, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

Turning to school libraries, Du Toit and Stilwell (2012: 120) note that:

Inequalities in school library provisioning under the former pre-1994 education departments resulted in widespread lack of facilities, inadequate resources, and a lack of trained personnel in the majority of schools. The disparities were further aggravated by the fact that there was no legislation forcing education departments to provide school libraries and establish library standards.

It is unacceptable that 22 years into the new political dispensation of 1994, resource provision for all schools has been neglected by the post-apartheid government. Even with the introduction of the learner-centred and resource-based education model in 1998, the allocation and distribution of wide-ranging library resources to all schools was a low priority. Du Toit and Stilwell (2012: 120) suggest that:

[T]he implementation of Curriculum 2005 in 1998 was seen as a turning point in South Africa’s educational history in many ways and represented a new paradigm in education. It was anticipated that the outcomes-based curriculum with its concepts of integration and lifelong learning, as part of a new approach to education, would transform the legacy of the past and provide equal access to education for all learners.

Unfortunately, outcomes based education (OBE) failed dismally in South Africa, particularly in schools in historically disadvantaged and marginalised rural communities, townships and informal settlements (Motseke, 2005). The lack or inadequacy of library-based resources in most schools was observed as one of the swarm of contextual realities that contributed enormously towards its failure. Owing to the past apartheid inequality in terms of resource provision in all schools, the right to quality education was envisioned by the post-apartheid government. ‘More recently, the Department of Basic Education acknowledged that quality of education was an urgent issue needing to be addressed’ (Paton-Ash and Wilmot, 2013: 1270). However, the new government continued to neglect the provision of library-based resources to schools to guarantee quality education for all (Library and Information Services Transformation Charter, 2014). With 92% of public schools without decent, well-stocked, well-staffed and sustainable school libraries in the country, it is rhetorical therefore to talk about the high quality of education in the majority of schools. ‘As a result, school libraries cannot be referred to as transformation spaces in our educational landscape as there are simply not enough functioning libraries to make an impact’ (Paton-Ash and Wilmot 2013: 136). Du Toit and Stilwell (2012: 120) reaffirm that: ‘school libraries have thus far been largely ignored in education reform strategies and the onus is on provincial education departments to establish and develop school library services’. Without adequate funding for the procurement of resources and materials, provision of specialist librarian posts, infrastructure development and a legislated school library policy from the national Department of Basic Education, all school library developments and initiatives in the country are destined for failure. Consequently, the performance of most learners is negatively affected. In disadvantaged and marginalised rural communities, the situation is even worse. In South Africa, the government lacks the foresight to link learner achievement and provision of standardised, well-equipped and functional school libraries and their equitable collections. Lonsdale (2003) reiterates that well-resourced and well-staffed libraries can improve and boost learner performance in schools. With a majority of South African schools lacking well-equipped and functional school libraries, persistent low performance of South African learners in local and international tests is a testimony to their low literacy levels. Alongside international tests, it is incontestable that learners in South Africa are faring badly in Annual National Assessment (ANA) particularly in reading and numeracy. Silbert and Bitso (2015: 53) attest that: ‘there remain deep inequalities in educational achievement in South Africa, particularly with regards to literacy and numeracy levels’.

Ideally, with well-resourced and functional school libraries, teachers and learners are provided with a plethora of educational resources such as print, visual, audio-visual and electronic information sources, including the Internet, to enhance and boost the quality of education. The IFLA/UNESCO School Library Guidelines Draft (2015: 7) notes that:

The goal of all school libraries is to develop information literate students who are responsible and ethical participants in society. Information literate students are competent self-directed learners who are aware of their information needs and actively engage in the world of ideas. They display confidence in their ability to solve problems and know how to locate relevant and reliable information. They are able to manage technology tools to access information and to communicate what they have learned. They are able to operate comfortably in situations where there are multiple answers or no answers. They hold high standards for their work and create quality products. Information literate students are flexible, able to adapt to change, and able to function both individually and in groups.

This implies that a plethora of wide-ranging educational resources is required in all schools to enable active learners to source information on their own in order to meet their information and curriculum needs (Evans, 2014). Acquisition and development of information literacy skills occur when learners are exposed to a wide variety of library and information resources. Funmilayo (2013: 103) adds that “the school library equips students with lifelong learning skills and develops the imagination thus enabling them to live as responsible citizens’. Unfortunately, this is not the case for the majority of learners in South Africa. In South Africa, due to lack of adequate resource provision in the majority of the schools, it is therefore not uncommon for most teachers and learners to lack necessary information literacy skills which are fundamental for independent study, leisure reading and life-long learning.

With progressive, constructivist, resource-based and learner-centred education models being implemented in South African schools, diverse library-based resources are essential for enhancing and boosting innovative teaching and learning platforms and styles as embodied in the resource-friendly curriculum (Department of Basic Education, 2012; Hart, 2014). While the so called former advantaged Model C schools in historically advantaged and privileged urban communities have decent, well-resourced and well-managed functional school libraries because they charge extra fees from mostly middle-class parents to procure extra resources, including library resources, it is exactly the opposite for the majority of public schools in historically disadvantaged and deprived rural communities, townships and informal settlements (Library and Information Services Transformation Charter 2014; Hart 2013; Motseke, 2005). In what Bloch (2009: 59) called ‘secondary economy’, schools, progressive and constructivist teaching and learning endeavours are negatively impacted, raising the question of the quality of education offered to the ‘born frees’ in post-apartheid South Africa (Hart, 2014). Without exposure to a plethora of library resources, it remains a daunting challenge for the majority of the teachers and learners to develop and acquire adequate information literacy and reading skills, which are prerequisites for literacy development, independent and life-long learning (IFLA/UNESCO School Library Guidelines, 2015; Machet and Pretorius, 2008; 2009). With the lack of resource provision in most schools in the country, low literacy levels are common. Bloch (2009) asserts that that low literacy levels of the learners in South Africa are a national disaster.

Apartheid’s effects on the schooling system and resource provision

To get a glimpse of the grim effects of the apartheid education system and to understand inequality and the enormous disproportions and discrepancies in the schooling system and resource provision in South African schools today, it makes sense to focus on the past.

In 1948, before the dawn of the new political dispensation in 1994, the National Party in South Africa resorted to the system of ruling known as apartheid (separateness). With the apartheid ideology of separate development, whites, Indians, coloureds and blacks were segregated along racial lines (Thompson, 2014; Van Zyl, 2002, Worden 2000). As the government legitimately sanctioned the apartheid ideology, it was duly evident in all its manifestations affecting all walks and spheres of life. Diverse Acts were passed by the apartheid parliament to perpetuate, propel and sanction the apartheid laws and policies, which were oppressive particularly to the majority black people. Van Zyl (2002: 11) confirms that ‘many more laws were passed to entrench the apartheid ideology’. According to Worden (2000: 108), the Population Registration Act ‘enforced the classification of people into four racial categories: white, coloured, “Asiatic” (Indian) and “Native” (later “Bantu” or African)’. A host of factors were used to separate the South African population. Although skin colour or race was the key issue used for discrimination, other factors such as language, ethnicity, creed and gender were also used to identify and separate people. Equal Education (2011a: 1) notes that:

Apartheid was the racist system of government that existed in South Africa before 1994. It was a system of racial discrimination, which oppressed black people while privileging whites from 1948 until 1994. An important part of apartheid was to make sure that black, coloured and Indian children received inferior education. Schools were separated according to race. Learners who went to white schools were given a quality education but black, coloured and Indian students received a poor education under the Bantu Education system.

Quality education for all was never conceptualised by the racist National Party, consequently and directly affecting non-white learners in South Africa. There were 19 fragmented education departments in apartheid South Africa to cater for the different needs of the learners as stipulated and determined by the Nationalist Government (Hart and Zinn, 2007). The following Acts were sanctioned to drive, propel and maintain the apartheid education system in the country.

Prior to 1994, the education system in South Africa was premised on two factors, namely, ‘segregation and inequality’ (Unterhalter, 1991: 35). The Bantu Education Act (Act 47 of 1953) was instituted to legalise discrimination in education (apartheid education) (Van Zyl, 2002; Worden 2000). According to Unterhalter (1991: 35), ‘Bantu education has been treated as an unchanging mechanism of white domination’. Under this Act, all schools designated to non-whites (coloureds, Indians and blacks) were subjected to the Bantu Education system (Giliomee and Schlemmer, 1989; Thompson, 2014). The Act legalised the government’s introduction of Bantu or native schools specifically for black learners to offer racially offensive and inferior quality education. The Department of Bantu Education and later the Department of Education and Training were established specifically to administer and oversee Bantu schools designated for black learners (Van Zyl, 2002). With the Bantu Education Act (Act 47 of 1953), the Nationalist Government’s main agenda was to provide black learners with inferior quality education ‘to meet labour requirements of the white people’ (Van Zyl, 2002: 12). Hart and Zinn (2007: 91) assert that with inferior quality education, black learners ‘were destined to be unthinking cogs in the labour machine, in no need of libraries’. Dick (2002) as cited by Paton-Ash and Wilmot (2013: 136) reaffirms that the Act ‘entrenched an inferior education for black South Africans under the apartheid Native Affairs Department’, which lead to the ‘purge or closure of many existing black school libraries’. According to Worden (2000: 108), the Bantu Education Act (Act 47 of 1953) ‘also imposed a uniform curriculum which stressed separate “Bantu culture” and deliberately prepared students for little more than manual labour’.

Without dedicated teacher-librarians, it was difficult to keep black school libraries open because all teachers were involved in mainstream subject teaching with high workloads. With this move, black learners were disempowered educationally, destined to be servants of the masters. With poor, underprivileged and illiterate parents in the homelands, most learners were taught without learner textbooks which impacted negatively on individualised learning. Equal Education (2011a: 1) suggests that ‘Bantu Education was meant to educate non-white students to become servants and manual labourers of white people’. To accomplish its agenda, the apartheid government expenditure on education favoured white learners at the expense of their black counterparts (Giliomee and Schlemmer, 1989; Paton-Ash and Wilmot, 2013). Equal Education (2011a: 1) confirms that there was racially segregated government spending on South African learners in 1982.

Table 1 confirms enormous inequalities per capita per annum expenditure in the apartheid government spending between learners of different racial groupings. Government expenditure on education disadvantaged black learners immensely resulting in under-resourced and information-poor schools. With eight times more spending on white learners compared to black learners, their (white learners’) schools had adequate classrooms for teaching and learning and well-equipped educational amenities such as libraries, halls, sport fields and laboratories to guarantee high quality education. On the other hand, impoverished black schools were without sufficient educational resources. With meagre school fees levied from poor and destitute parents ‘working in the lowest-paid sectors of the economy’, teaching and learning accomplishments were greatly affected in black schools (Unterhalter, 1991: 50). Without a wide variety of educational resources, the didactic situation in the classroom in most schools was not conducive to quality teaching and learning activities at all. High learner enrolments and few classrooms meant that congestion and overcrowding were the order of the day. Performance in black schools was disastrous with a lot of dropouts and high failure rates. With under-resourced schools, the acquisition, development and promotion of information literacy skills, which are the fundamentals for independent studies and life-long learning, were greatly affected.

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Table 1.

Apartheid government spending on racially segregated education.

Learners	Government spending
White learner	R1211
Indian learner	R771
Coloured learner	R498
Black learner	R146

Source: Equal Education 2011a: 1.

As the education system was discriminatory, black parents in the various disadvantaged and impoverished rural communities of the homelands were responsible for the construction of their own school infrastructure (buildings). Thompson (2014: 190) notes that ‘the state was not obliged to provide equal facilities for the subordinate races’. With insufficient classrooms, deprived black parents could not afford to build extra educational amenities such as libraries for reading and acquiring knowledge and laboratories for experimentation, self-discovery and inquiry and research-based learning styles and strategies. This partly explained the low literacy levels and high failure rates of black learners during the apartheid education system in South Africa. Without inadequate funding from the government, as observed by Paton-Ash and Wilmot (2013: 136), ‘this translated into serious inequalities in school infrastructure’. Hart (2014: 1) reaffirms that:

These infrastructural problems are reflected in the uneven quality of our schools’ academic performance. Although it is no longer accurate to talk of ‘white’ schools, the disparities in quality between the historically white sector of schooling and the historically black sector in South Africa are still evident, as shown in the statistic that in 2007 two percent of white school leavers failed the matric examination compared with 39% of blacks.

The apartheid government persistently injected more funds into the white schools than their black counterparts. Twenty-two years (2016) into post-apartheid South Africa, as observed by Hart (2014), it is still difficult to try to overcome the inheritance of the past apartheid government. Hart (2014: 2) suggests that:

We are still struggling to overcome the heritage of apartheid education in which per capita expenditure varied between R5 403 on ‘white’ schools and R1 053 on schools in the rural Transkei ‘homeland’. Despite allocating large shares of national expenditure to schooling (20% in 2014), huge backlogs in basic facilities still exist 20 years later. According to the government’s 2011 National Education Infrastructure Management System (NEIMS), of the 24,793 schools public schools in the country, over 10,000 still had pit toilets and about 3,000 were without electricity and water.

The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act (Act 49 of 1953) legalised separate facilities, buildings and services for the different racial groupings (Kalley, 2000). To cite an example, there were separate public toilets for blacks and whites. The Act also outlawed learners of the different races from schooling together (Giliomee and Schlemmer, 1989; Worden 2000). Under this Act, blacks were also barred from accessing library-based resources in public or community libraries in former advantaged and privileged white communities, as they were reserved for whites only. In her book, Apartheid in South African Libraries: The Transvaal Experience (Kalley, 2000), the author clearly outlines the apartheid library resource provision and services in apartheid South Africa. Despite the virtual non-existence of school libraries, there were also no public libraries in disadvantaged rural villages and communities designated for blacks in the homelands. Illiteracy and low literacy levels were sky-rocketing in black communities due to lack of access to library and information resources in public libraries. Disadvantaged and marginalised black communities were information poor environments, which inhibited and restricted black learners from acquiring the reading, decoding and writing skills that are prerequisites for literacy development. Due to high poverty and illiteracy levels, most black parents could not afford to buy reading material such as books, newspapers and magazines for their children for home use.

The Group Areas Act (Act 41 of 1950) legalised racial zoning of lands (Ross, 2005; Thompson, 2014). Worden (2000: 108) asserts that: ‘Residential segregation had existed in some parts of the country since the earlier part of the century, but the Group Areas Act (1950) extended the principle of separate racial residential areas on a comprehensive and compulsory basis’.

Under this Act, blacks were confined to the impoverished and underprivileged homelands and townships with all their contextual realities and circumstances. Influx-control regulations were in force to monitor and restrict human movements, particularly to keep blacks away from ‘invading’ the white territories. It was therefore obligatory for blacks in particular to carry passes (identity documents) to monitor and restrict their movements. With a plethora of resources including library resources, historically advantaged and privileged Model C schools in white suburbs were earmarked for white learners only for quality education. The National Library of South Africa (2015: 21) confirms that:

Before 1994, schools were divided according to race. White schools were provided with libraries and teacher-librarians. Black secondary schools that fell under the South African government had libraries but no library staff, while some black primary schools had classroom collections. Schools in the so-called homelands had no library provision whatsoever.

Even today (2016), most schools in former homelands are still under-resourced in terms of library resources.

Current status of school libraries in South Africa

In addition to enhancing and boosting the performance of the learners, well-resourced and well-staffed school libraries can contribute positively towards the realisation and attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in various countries worldwide as stipulated by the United Nations. Fombad and Jiyane (2015: 191) affirm that: ‘The library and information sector is well placed to contribute towards the realisation of the MDGs, as libraries provide a critical support structure for education, economic development and poverty eradication’.

In South Africa, well-stocked and functional school libraries are indispensable for teachers and learners to also advance and realise the goals of National Development Plan (NDP). However, the current school library situation in South Africa is depressing, making it difficult for most teachers and learners in the country to realise the MDGs. Despite broken promises and dashed hopes from the national Department of Basic Education, there are some new school LIS developments (Hart, 2014). The amended South African School Act stipulates that each school in the country should have a library facility, media centre facility or library stocks (Department of Basic Education, 2013). The non-governmental organisation (NGO) Equal Education must be credited for fighting tirelessly with government over the Norms and Standards for school infrastructure. In 2009, Equal Education started campaigning for One School, One Library and One Teacher-Librarian (Equal Education, 2011b; Hart, 2014). Court battles between Equal Education and government were the order of the day. With the Norms and Standards Act currently in place, Equal Education’s triumph is a milestone – the provision of library resources in all schools in the country.

The Act, unfortunately, makes no mention of staff and resources or materials. Equal Education (2011b) estimated that more than R12bn is required from government coffers to provide all public schools in South Africa with a well-stocked and well-staffed library. The amount includes funds for library infrastructure development, library materials, and training and employment of a full-time librarian or administrator. Approaching this resource-provision problem using an incremental model, the government will hopefully provide each school with a library facility. Currently, the status of school libraries is gloomy. Table 2 indicates the current status of school libraries in South Africa.

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Table 2.

The current status of school libraries in South Africa.

Schools with no library space	Schools with library space that is reportedly not stocked	Schools with library space that is reportedly stocked
79.3%	13.5%	7.2%

Source: Machet and Tiemensma (2009: 64).

According to Equal Education (2011b), the Library and Information Services Transformation Charter (2014) and the National Education Infrastructure Management System (NEIMS) (2011), only 7% of public schools in South Africa have well-equipped and functional school libraries. ‘These are almost entirely situated in historically advantaged Model C schools, which are able to stock and staff these facilities through their own resources’ (Equal Education, 2011b: 1). This is a gloomy and appalling situation taking into consideration the importance of functional school libraries in modern learner-centred education models and the information age generally. In Limpopo Province, the situation leaves much to be desired because only 2% of the public schools have a well-stocked and well-staffed library facility (NEIMS, 2011). With these staggering figures, a turnaround strategy is indeed needed to improve the status of school LIS in South Africa.

Purpose of the study

The purpose of the study was to investigate challenges that negatively impact the provision and sustainability of functional school LIS for teachers and learners in Limpopo Province, which should be supporting progressive and constructivist teaching and learning styles and strategies as required by the resource-based curriculum.

Research methodology

According to the Limpopo Department of Basic Education Annual Survey Update Master (2015a), there are 1428 registered public high schools in the five districts of the province. To obtain a sample size relative to the size of the wider population under study, a look-up table for sample sizes from different sized universes was used (Payne and Payne, 2004: 204), according to which if the target population comprises 1500 units of analysis, the sample should be 306. As the target population in this study was 1428 public high schools, a total of 306 public high schools in the province was targeted. Within the sampled schools, this study specifically targeted principals or teacher-librarians. As schools are located either in rural or urban communities, it was necessary to categorise them to ensure an inclusive and representative sample. Two sampling methods were therefore used, namely stratified and systematic random sampling.

First, the stratified sampling technique was applied (Keyton, 2011). Two lists of schools were created – a rural and an urban school list. The aim was to draw state high schools from various socioeconomic backgrounds to ensure an even spread of schools in both strata in the sample. Second, the systematic random sampling technique was applied to both rural and urban school sampling frames to ensure fair distribution and selection of schools in each stratum (Walliman, 2011). From the list of 1265 (89%) rural schools, 254 were randomly chosen. From a total of 163 (11%) urban schools, 52 were randomly selected. Self-administered questionnaires with self-addressed envelopes were mailed to 306 schools (see Appendix 1). There was a response rate of 163 (53.2%) schools − 118 rural and 45 urban schools. Other respondents in the study included three education officials of the School LIS from the provincial Department of Basic Education in Polokwane who were selected through purposive sampling. An interview schedule was used to conduct face-to-face interviews to obtain qualitative data (see Appendix 2).

The responses from each item on the self-administered questionnaires were coded. The SPSS software package was used to analyse the data from the self-administered questionnaires. The responses to the closed-ended questions were pre-coded and the responses to the open-ended questions were post-coded, that is, coding categories were compiled to classify the collected data after the self-administered questionnaires had been completed (Babbie, 2010). Data from the interviews were also categorised.

Data were analysed using simple descriptive statistics. Importantly, statistical information was used to identify relationships, trends and patterns and to make comparisons.

Respondents of the study

For this study, data were collected from two sets of respondents. As already noted, the respondents of the study at school level comprised the principals or teacher-librarians. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data from them. By virtue of their appointment, principals are representatives of the government and are also policy implementers at schools. In case principals were unable to complete self-administered questionnaires due to other commitments, the so called teacher-librarians were eligible to complete them as they are drivers of school libraries. The researcher also collected qualitative data from three education officials, two chief education specialists and the senior manager all attached to the School Library Unit of the Limpopo Department of Basic Education. Employed and paid by the provincial Department of Basic Education, their main function is to assist schools to set up functional school libraries in all schools in the province. They are supposed to run workshops related to school libraries. They are also supposed to visit and monitor library facilities and resources at schools.

Presentation and discussion of findings

The findings are presented into themes and discussed using related literature.

Schools with a library facility

The findings established that only 27% of the schools in the rural category had a library facility (see Table 3a). This implies that the majority (73%) of the schools in rural communities had no library facility whatsoever. However, in the urban category, the researcher found that nearly half (49%) of the schools had libraries (see Table 3b). Cumulatively, out of 163 schools, it was encouraging to note that more than half (54.33%) of the schools in the province had some sort of facility for library use. The amended South African Schools Act of 1996 stipulates that each school is supposed to have a library facility (Department of Basic Education 2013). Through this Act, the government’s quest for provision of school libraries is recognised. If this call is heeded, hopefully, the number of schools with a library facility can increase exponentially. However, as observed by Hart (2014: 1), ‘the road is littered with dashed hopes and broken promises’

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Table 3.

Existence of a library structure or facility in schools.

a. Rural schools.

		Frequency	Percentage	Valid percentage	Cumulative percentage
Valid	Yes	32	27.1	27.1	27.1
	No	86	72.9	72.9	100.0
	Total	118	100.0	100.0

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b. Urban schools.

		Frequency	Percentage	Valid percentage	Cumulative percentage
Valid	Yes	22	48.9	48.9	48.9
	No	23	51.1	51.1	100.0
	Total	45	100.0	100.0

School library committees

The study sought to determine whether or not elements from established library guidelines are implemented at schools to advocate and champion the provision of libraries. Although effective governance is considered indispensable for the effective functionality of the different school library facilities, as depicted in Table 4, out of 163, most (108 or 66%) respondents indicated that their schools operate without a library committee. Without this committee, the functionality of school libraries is severely hampered. School LIS professionals such as Govender (2007) indicate the impact of this body for effective establishment and maintenance of an active, vibrant and functional school LIS. When asked whether or not schools have library committees, the education officials responded:

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Table 4.

School library guidelines.

School library guidelines	Responses	Number of rural schools	%	Number ofurban schools	%	Cumulative total	Cumulative %
1. School library committee	Yes	38	32	16	36	54	33
	No	79	67	29	25	108	66
	Do not know	1	1	1	1	2	1
2. School library policy	Yes	28	24	10	22	38	23
	No	89	75	34	75	123	75
	Do not know	1	1	1	2	2	1
3. Staffing	Yes	9	8	7	16	16	10
	No	109	92	38	84	147	90
4. Annual budget	Yes	30	25	17	38	47	29
	No	84	71	26	58	110	67
	No response	4	3	2	4	6	4
Number of respondents		118	100	45	100	163	100

Currently, not all schools have a library committee. We, however, encourage all schools to have a library committee. Fortunately, the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Room to Read, is assisting schools in Greater Sekhukhune District to establish a functional school library committee. (Education official A)

School library committees are important for effective functionality of school libraries. Only a few schools have library committees. However, Room to Read is assisting the department to establish library committees in Greater Sekhukhune district where mobile library project is piloted. (Education official B)

Only a few schools have a library committee. However, most schools have learning and teaching support materials committees which also cater for the information needs of the teachers and learners although funding can be a problem. Hopefully, the situation will improve because Room to Read is helping schools in Greater Sekhukhune to constitute library committees. (Education official C)

All education officials were hopeful that assistance offered by Room to Read will cascade to other districts of the province. However, they all agreed that funding can be a problem.

Summary, conclusions and recommendations

A wide variety of library and information resources is critical in schools world-wide to improve the standard and quality of education. However, owing to the legacy of apartheid, there are huge disparities and backlogs in resource-provision in South African schools. The schooling system is therefore still characterised by huge inequalities in resource-provisioning. Equal provision of wide-ranging information resources in all schools is not yet a priority for the new democratic government. Without a plethora of information resources to improve and enhance teaching and learning initiatives in all schools, it is questionable to talk about the quality of education in post-apartheid South Africa. The study established that the provision and sustainability of decent, standardised, well-resourced and well-staffed school libraries in Limpopo is compounded by an array of challenges. Consequently, the majority of schools operate without functional school libraries compromising the quality of education to the ‘born frees’.

With the exception of historically advantaged and privileged ex-Model C schools earmarked for white learners only under apartheid rule, 22 years into the post- apartheid era, most public schools still lack the necessary infrastructure, budget and staffing for provision and sustainability of proper, standardised, well-stocked and well-staffed school libraries. To redress and address the problem of resource-provisioning in all schools, political will from the government through the Minister of the National Department of Basic Education is essential. While a legislated school library policy is not a guarantee that different school library facilities will function, the study recommends that its inherent value in championing and advancing well-resourced and functional school library services cannot be underemphasised. In the meantime, government should fast-track rural development to enable teachers and learners to access information in other information services or amenities such as public or community libraries, tele-centres, multipurpose centres and Internet cafes for their curriculum requirements. Roads and telecommunications infrastructure need to be improved to enhance access to information. With improved road conditions, mobile and courier services can also be introduced to bring teachers and learners closer to the information.