Despite significant investments in education, South Africa continues to grapple with high illiteracy rates, particularly among young learners. According to the 2024 Reading Panel report, an alarming 81 percent of Grade 4 learners in South Africa cannot read for meaning in any language, a crisis that threatens the nation’s future.

According to the Economic and Social Cost of Illiteracy report¹ by the World Literacy Foundation, this illiteracy cost South Africa US$6.66 billion in 2022, reflecting the severe economic and social impact of inadequate literacy development.

Despite a budget of over R324.5 billion (over US$17 billion) allocated to Basic Education for the 2024/2025 financial year, challenges persist. South Africa was ranked last out of 57 countries in the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), with illiteracy among South African children rising from 78 percent in 2016 to 81 percent in 2021.

Addressing these challenges head-on, Ford South Africa supports two key legacy projects: Rally to Read, and the construction of Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centres, both designed to have long-lasting impacts on the communities they serve.

For 25 years, Ford South Africa has partnered with the READ Educational Trust through the Rally to Read initiative, contributing to improved literacy and education in underserved communities. Rally to Read is a three-year cycle project that equips selected schools with age-appropriate books, educational toys and learning materials.

Ford is currently supporting two Rally to Read programmes, each with an annual grant of R1.36 million – one in Nelson Mandela Bay, which is home to Ford’s Struandale Engine Plant, and the other in Pretoria, which is where its head office and Silverton Manufacturing Plant is located.

This year’s Rally to Read in Nelson Mandela Bay marked the culmination of the three-year programme and focused on integrating sustainable practices to ensure schools can continue these lessons in the future. Ford and the READ Educational Trust are now actively identifying new schools in the area, signalling the start of a new three-year programme in 2025. In Pretoria, the second year of the programme was implemented this year, benefiting six schools around Ford’s Silverton plant. The final Senior Phase of this programme will be implemented in 2025.

In celebration of its Centenary in South Africa, Ford, in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Department of Basic Education, is constructing 100 Early Childhood Development Centres in disadvantaged communities.

To date, 27 ECD centres have been completed, benefiting over 1 000 children in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Eastern Cape. This initiative not only improves early childhood education but also enables these centres to receive government funding, further enhancing the quality of education in the most vulnerable communities.