Game invests millions in rural schools

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For a decade now, retail chain store Game has invested millions in helping provide basic resources to teachers in rural schools through its Tools 2 Teach project, touching the lives of approximately half a million children across South Africa.

Game CEO Jan Potgieter said this week that a total of R7.5-million had been invested in stationery since Africa’s largest discount retailer of household goods and general merchandise had become involved in the Tools 2 Teach project in 2003.

Game shoppers had also supported this initiative when donating R6 for every gift wrapped in Game stores during Christmas 2011.

“Each year, we donate about 1 400 stationary packs to teachers in rural schools across all provinces. Each stationery pack is able to equip a classroom of learners with items such as scissors, glue sticks, crayons, paint, cardboard, pencils, pens and rulers. This year alone, our investment stands at R1.4-million,” he said.

The stationery packs are distributed in May and June via the Rally to READ, a joint project involving private sponsors, members of the South African business community and 135 rural schools. This sees convoys of off-road vehicles deliver educational materials to some of the country’s most neglected schools via 10 rallies in May and June each year.

Via its donations, Game has made a marked difference during the all important formative years of at least 45 000 children per year.

IMPORTANT MILESTONE

child-book1-250A good learning experience from the start would keep children in classrooms for longer, providing quality education (Photo: Game)Potgieter said that according to the Midterm Review of the Priorities of Government released by the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation in March 2012, South Africa had reached an important milestone when it came to providing access to education for all. 2011 saw the doubling of Grade R enrolments from 300 000 in 2003 to 705 000, putting the country well on the way to realising government’s target of 100% coverage for Grade R by 2014.

He added that during their first years at school, the littlest of learners needed the equipment included in each of the stationery packs to lay the foundation for a positive learning experience that would last them throughout their school careers.

Referring to the Midterm Review again, he said that while dropout rates were extremely low in grade 1, at approximately 0.5%, this increased to 3.8% in grade 8 and 12% in grades 10 and 11. A good learning experience from the start would keep children in classrooms for longer, providing a quality education and the literary and numeracy skills that were often lacking in today’s school leavers.

RIGHT ENVIRONMENT

Potgieter said that, in his State of the Nation Address last year, President Jacob Zuma not only reiterated the call for teachers to be at school, in class, on time but also called on the administrations in each centre to ensure the right working environment for quality teaching to take place.

Pointing out that this provided a valuable opportunity for the private sector to contribute towards improving schooling in outlying areas, he said the Tools 2 Teach project not only improved the resources available to children, but paid tribute to the many teachers whose hard work and dedication often went unnoticed.

He said Game welcomed the opportunity to be involved in the Tools 2 Teach project, as children were the “country’s most important resource”.