It can cost more than R120 000 to send your child to one of SA's top private schools for one year. Even parents who opt for state schools can spend about R40 000 on tuition and boarding fees.
So consider this: what some FM readers spend on the education of a single son or daughter is greater than the entire budget of some rural schools responsible for hundreds of pupils.
Few would begrudge parents' desire to provide their children with the best possible start in life. However, it is clearly unfair that millions of children should be condemned to no start at all.
Newspaper reports over the past couple of weeks have recorded the usual hiccups in urban primary schools at the start of a new school year. It's also been business as usual in rural schools. For them, however, that means no books, no paper, no pencils, no desks and sometimes no teachers. Sadly, this applies not only to the start of the year. It's a permanent problem.
River crossing - Rally To Read is an adventure with a purpose
Reading and writing skills in rural schools lag many years behind those of urban counterparts. A typical rural 14-year-old has a reading age of seven. When children move to high school, books and subjects are incomprehensible. No wonder 50% of rural children drop out of school.
Since 1998, however, Rally To Read has brought hope to nearly 150 000 such children. The rally - a joint venture between the FM, the McCarthy motor retail group and the Read Educational Trust - provides educational materials and teacher training to dozens of remote rural schools each year.
Each May and June, more than 1 000 sponsors travel in 4x4 convoys to far-flung parts of SA to deliver portable classroom libraries, sports equipment, stationery and science kits.
Everything is aimed at providing rural children with some of the goods urban schools take for granted. But these are not drop-and-go visits. Each school is supported for at least three years, so a culture of reading and writing can become embedded.
Teachers receive intensive training in the use of all materials that are delivered. School principals attend courses to learn management, financial and other skills that will help them run their schools.
Experience shows that children attending rally schools gain more than reading and writing skills. They also learn confidence. One of the most rewarding aspects of Rally To Read is to watch this personal development from one year to the next.
It costs R22 000 to be a full Rally To Read sponsor in 2009. Every cent goes to schools - R12 000 for classroom books, and R10 000 for teacher training.
At no extra cost, sponsors are invited to join us on one of our rally weekends to deliver their materials. Most rallies start before dawn on Saturday, when we load goods on the back of 4x4s before splitting up into small groups, each of which visits two or three schools.
Afterwards, groups meet up at an overnight base - usually a local hotel, tented camp or game reserve - where the day's experiences are shared. Food and accommodation costs are borne by the organisers. Participants head home on Sunday, usually after visiting local sights or experiencing a 4x4 trail.
Two rallies - Northern Cape and Limpopo - start on a Friday afternoon.
The 2009 rally dates are:
- May 9-10: Western Cape (Laingsberg/Prince Albert), Free State (Reitz/Bethlehem/Golden Gate).
- May 15-17: Northern Cape (Kuruman).
- May 16-17: North West (Zeerust/ Madikwe).
- May 23-24: KZN South (Swartberg/ Ixopo), Mpumalanga 1 (Chrissiemeer/ Badplaas).
- May 29-31: Limpopo (Soutpansberg).
- May 30-31: KZN North (Cathedral Peak).
- June 6-7: Eastern Cape (Hogsback); Mpumalanga 2 (Amsterdam/Ermelo).
For more details, or to become a sponsor, visit the Rally To Read website, www.rallytoread.co.za, e-mail rally@mccarthy.co.za, fax to 086-673-4470, or call rally co-ordinator Iris Francis on (031) 268-9285.
