Rotary International designates September as Basic Education and Literacy Month, highlighting one of its seven Areas of Focus and encouraging clubs worldwide to support literacy and education initiatives.
What the Month Represents
Basic education and literacy are core Rotary priorities, essential for reducing poverty, improving health, strengthening communities, and promoting peace. Rotary uses September to spotlight projects that help children and adults learn to read, access schooling, and gain lifelong learning skills.
Why Literacy Matters
Over 775 million adults worldwide are illiterate, representing 17% of the global adult population.
Literacy improves maternal health, childhood survival, and economic opportunity. If all women completed primary education, maternal deaths could drop by 66%.
Rotary's Global Impact
- Rotary clubs can support literacy through:
- Opening and supporting schools
- Training teachers and tutors
- Supporting adult literacy programs
Examples of Global Projects:
Rotary India Literacy Mission (T.E.A.C.H.). This movement is a nationwide Rotary initiative focused on achieving total literacy in India through teacher training, e-learning, adult literacy and child development programs, aiming to help make 10 crore adults' literate by 2027.
The Guatemala Literacy Project. This project is a collaborative effort of individual Rotarians, Rotary clubs, districts and nonprofit Cooperative for Education (CoEd), operating since 1997 to enhance education for underserved students in Guatemala.
It is the largest grassroots, multi-club, multi-district projects in rotary with over 900 participating clubs and 90 districts worldwide. The project focuses on rural and indigenous communities in Guatemala’s Central and Western Highlands – regions marked by extreme poverty, high illiteracy and limited education opportunities.
Books for Africa. The project is a 501©3 nonprofit organization dedicated to collecting, sorting, , shipping, and distributing books to children and adults across Africa. Since its founding, in 1988, BFA has shipped over 65 million books to all 55 African countries, making it the largest shipper of donated books to the continent. The organization also distributes digital books via computers and e-readers and supports special initiatives such as Girls Empowerment Collections, Law and Democracy Libraries and agricultural libraries.
How can Rotary clubs help:
- Clubs are encouraged to:
- Launch or highlight literacy projects
- Hold a book fair at a local school or community center
- Donate books and school supplies
- Volunteer as tutors, mentors or classroom helpers
- Partner with schools, libraries and literacy nonprofit organizations
There is nothing more important than an education. A great emphasis should be placed on this Area of Focus. Education raises children and adults out of poverty and improves their lives and communities creating a Lasting Impact.