Rally to Read’s fight to improve child literacy is never-ending

What do you do when you’ve just set a fundraising record? You go straight back out and try to break it. It would be easy to pat ourselves on the back after raising more than R11m to bring literacy to rural primary schools in 2023. In truth, it’s only a start. We need much more to alleviate an educational crisis that’s been decades in the making. That’s why we’ve already started fundraising for 2024. 

Rally to Read, the rural education programme in which the FM is an organising partner, was created in 1988 to help a handful of remote KwaZulu-Natal schools. In the 25 years since, it has grown into a national campaign to give rural children a future. Through the generosity of corporate and private sponsors, we’ve supported hundreds of schools, thousands of teachers and nearly 750,000 children. 

Instead of the reading age of seven which typifies the average rural 14-year-old, many of our children are able to continue to high school and beyond. 

The Rally to Read model is simple. We provide children with books and stationery, and teachers with additional training. We start with colourful storybooks for classroom and private reading, then progress to more challenging books during each of the three or four years we support each school. 

Teacher training and learner progress are managed by leading education NGO the Read Educational Trust. Since its creation in 1979, the trust’s education programmes, including Rally to Read, have reached 7.5-million children, 250,000 teachers and 40,000 schools. 

Since education should also be fun, Rally schools are provided with soccer, netball and rugby balls by the Kempston transport group. Kempston is typical of Rally to Read sponsors in that it has supported the programme for many years. It knows it works. Sponsors and guests are invited to personally deliver their books and stationery to schools, and meet the children, parents and local communities. 

Children love to show off their improved reading skills at these events. For sponsors who stay with the programme, there is the satisfaction of seeing how these skills — and the children’s self-confidence — improve each year.

It costs R45,000 to be a fully-fledged Rally to Read sponsor in 2023. This will equip a small school, or a number of classes at a larger one, with books and teacher training for the 2024 academic year. It will also entitle the sponsor to send four people on one of our weekend rallies. Some will last one day, others the whole weekend. 

Some rural schools are in spectacular parts of the country far away from tourist routes. But Rally to Read now also supports deprived schools in certain areas where the lack of educational resources is equally acute. 

Besides Kempston, companies that have confirmed their continued sponsorship this year include Mercedes-Benz South Africa and Ford South Africa, both of which underwrite the cost of complete rallies. Local motor companies have always been enthusiastic Rally supporter and others that have confirmed their 2023 involvement include Toyota, Suzuki and Porsche. 

Then there is the Jonsson Foundation, the charitable arm of the Jonsson Workwear group, that has been Rally To Read’s lead partner for some years, providing the programme with administration and running costs. The Bidvest group, meanwhile, is back in a big way through its Bidfood arm.

As in this year, most 2024 rallies will happen in January and February, though one or two may take place at the end of this year. Regions where rallies will definitely happen are KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng. These may be joined by Free State and Mpumalanga. 

Successive local and international studies have confirmed that the South African education system is failing its children. According to one of the latest, only 20% of 10-years-olds understand what they are reading.

Rally to Read, however, has a proven record of success. As Read Educational Trust CEO Sizile Mabaso put it recently: “Education reform, enhanced teacher training, adequate resources and private sector interventions can collectively pave the way for a brighter future. By prioritising literacy and education, South Africa can unlock the potential of its children, preparing them to thrive in the changing world and contributing to the nation's overall progress.” 

For more information on Rally to Read, or to become a sponsor, visit www.rallytoread.org.za