Macmillan South Africa, one of the leading publishing houses, has announced a groundbreaking empowerment initiative to help the Gauteng education department tackle problems around literacy and the mobilisation of resources.
Called READ Empowerment Trust, the initiative is Macmillan’s broad-based BEE structure that is intended to benefit learners and teachers in Gauteng by giving them shares in the company.
It is common knowledge that various education commentators have, in analysing the problem of high failure rates in the country, highlighted poor literacy as one of the contributory factors.
The announcement also comes on the heels of a similar pilot project called the Accelerated Programme for Language, Literacy and Communication, which the Gauteng department of education launched early this year to boost the culture of reading and writing in 24 public schools by training teachers.
Other than the Gauteng education department and Macmillan, the other major stakeholder is READ Educational Trust. READ has been roped in because of its vast experience, which spans 26 years in developing sound teaching methodologies and teacher development programmes.
It is believed that learners who have been exposed to READ’s literacy programmes ‘are on average two grades higher in reading and writing than their peers”.
What the initiative means is that the trust would own 15% of the shares in Macmillan, discounted at 60%, and the dividends that accrue annually would be ‘invested into language literacy and communication training and resources for the learners and educators of the schools identified as part of the trust”.
So far, 22 schools in Gauteng that ‘demonstrate remarkable commitment to their learners” have been earmarked to be part of the trust. But, with time, more schools would be included, even those outside Gauteng province once the loan has been serviced.
Projections put the annual turn-over to the trust at around R200 000 or more. READ Educational Trust’s national director Cynthia Hugo said there is a greater need within the teaching community for more regular training and resources for literacy as well as improving general education levels.
Said Hugo: ‘It is the intention of the trust to provide assistance with language and literacy learning for the benefit of schools working within the framework of the curriculum and with the education department.”
Macmillan’s Chris Paterson described this as a ‘first for the education focused publishing sector in South Africa”, adding the deal put the company ahead of the rest of the industry including the industry charter.
‘We feel it is strategically imperative to align with the requirements of government to broaden the base of ownership, as well as to ensure the sustain-ability of a reading culture and industry for the future,” said Paterson.
He said the company has always wanted to come up with a BEE plan that goes beyond benefiting a handful of people, but ‘a far broader group of African people”.
Paterson said: ‘Improving education, increasing literacy, fostering a culture of reading and learning, and drawing out budding talent to build a strong, vibrant and ethical publishing sector, we believe are critical to the country and the industry.”
He said the company realised the only way it could contribute meaningfully to the country, was by looking at ‘innovative ways to open the benefits of shareholding to the broader community and its South African stakeholders”.
As part of growing the culture of reading, Paterson said, not only must learners be encouraged to read, but also the existing and emerging African writers must be empowered.
To achieve this, Macmillan has established two more trusts through which budding African authors and the staff (of Macmillan) would each own 5%. This coupled with the 15% given to the empowerment trust would bring Macmillan’s total empowerment shareholding to 25%.
Lilly Mbata, who spoke both as a trustee and a representative of principals, hailed Macmillan for coming up with the shareholding scheme that seeks to empower African learners and educators of a number of public schools in Gauteng.
What makes it different, she said, is that it has an element of sustainability and that, with time, it would be replicated to other schools across the country. She said, as principals, they would not disappoint, but would roll up their sleeves to reward Macmillan’s good gesture.