Basic education and literacy

Education and literacy are the foundations of every advanced society and key drivers of development, poverty reduction and better health. Rotary International recognises this, which is why basic education and literacy is one of its seven areas of focus.

The global statistics are alarming: an estimated 67 million children have no access to primary education, and more than 775 million people over the age of 15 are functionally illiterate. The Rotary Foundation's goal is to strengthen communities' capacity to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender inequality in education and increase adult literacy.

Approaches and strategies

• Access to education: building infrastructure and providing the basic conditions for learning, including clean water and sanitation
• Teacher training and resources: programmes introducing new teaching methods, technology and materials
• Literacy at every age: programmes for illiterate adults, particularly women
• Gender equality in education: empowering girls and women through schooling
• Technology in service of education: from printed materials to computer labs and online learning

In Serbia and Montenegro

Rotary is active in these projects. One example is a project supplying drones to computer science classrooms in primary schools, which reached a large number of schools and raised pupils' digital literacy.