Roger Federer has big plans to improve education in South Africa

Tennis legend Roger Federer has concluded a week-long visit to South Africa, announcing that his foundation is ramping up efforts to help improve access to quality early childhood education.

On 12 February 2025, Federer was joined by Springbok captain Siya Kolisi and other stakeholders to give an update on the Roger Federer Foundation’s (RF Foundation’s) work.

It was founded in 2003 to support educational projects across six countries in Southern Africa and Switzerland.

It has spent more than R1.5 billion on its education initiatives in over 13,000 primary schools and preschools. 

Federer, whose mother was born in Kempton Park, Gauteng, outlined that his foundation has been active in early childhood education programmes in South Africa since 2010.

“I strongly believe that a good start in education is crucial to empower children in a sustainable manner” and break the cycle of poverty, said Federer.

“Through our foundation’s work in South Africa, we’ve been able to offer quality preschool education to more than 300,000 children.”

“However, 1.3 million children are still waiting for opportunities such as playgrounds to play, building blocks and books to learn, but most importantly, passionate and knowledgeable educators,” said Federer.

He highlighted the urgent need for greater investment in early childhood development (ECD) in the country.

Early childhood development (ECD) is a critical period for shaping a child’s development and future, with quality programs shown to improve school readiness and lifelong well-being.

According to UNICEF and the Department of Basic Education (DBE), these programs are particularly effective among disadvantaged children.

However, South Africa lags in ECD, with approximately 1,15 million children aged three to five years not enrolled in any kind of early learning programme.

For those who do, a study commissioned by the RF Foundation found that many ECD centres and Grade R classes suffer from low-quality teaching, and teachers lack a proper understanding of child development.

“Every child and every community has incredible potential,” he said. “They just need a bit of support to unlock it.”

Work in South Africa

“Our foundation has already made strides by offering quality preschool education to hundreds of children in South Africa,” Federer said.

For example, in January 2019, the Foundation launched its “School Readiness Initiative” in South Africa to provide vulnerable children with a strong foundation for primary education through quality Grade R programs.

Already spending approximately R175 million, the initiative aims to increase pre-primary education enrollment, improve developmental readiness for primary school, and reduce repetition and dropout rates.

The initiative focuses on the critical transition from Grade R to primary school (Grade 1) and seeks to:

• Enhance Grade R teacher capacity.
• Establish a peer-to-peer mentoring system.
• Involve stakeholders such as school inspectors, principals, teachers, and parents.
• Mobilise efforts to better equip schools for young learners.
• Implement a Child Monitoring System to track development in key areas like language, numeracy, and socioemotional growth.

He emphasised that while progress has been made through the hundreds of South African children supported, much remains to be done.

“The challenge is huge. 1.3 million children still need the tools to learn and grow” said Federer at a business breakfast that morning.

“This is not just a funding issue—it’s about collaboration, learning from each other, and working together to find solutions that will make a lasting impact.”

“I rely heavily on the team that I have, and they do incredible work, and we have incredible partners as well that we work with local NGOs,” he added.

Kolisi, who co-founded the Kolisi Foundation with similar poverty upliftment goals, said, “Having someone like Roger who hasn’t grown up in the streets of South Africa doing this kind of work inspires me to do more and to talk more and bring more people here .”

“For me, it’s a no-brainer. The people of South Africa have helped me. It is my duty to give back to South Africa and it’s essential that we all do this kind of work and work to uplift communities,” he added.

Partnerships

The foundation operates directly through collaboration with NGOs and communities.

While in South Africa, Federer announced a broader collaboration between his foundation and Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA).

This is aimed at leveraging the business sector’s resources to address gaps in early childhood education.

BLSA chairperson Nonkululeko Nyembezi said that “the business sector is by now well versed in working in close collaboration with the government in tackling difficult challenges confronting South Africa.”

“What many of us haven’t done until now is to prioritise spending on the youngest ones.”

“Prioritising human capital from the earliest years is not just a social responsibility, it’s a strategic advantage for creating a thriving society and sustainable success,” she added.

Federer called on other companies to partner with NGOs and foundations like his to fund and implement educational programs.

He acknowledged that the task is ambitious, with the goal of ensuring every child in South Africa has access to early childhood education by 2030, but he expressed optimism.

“We need to work together to ensure that every child has access to the education they deserve,” Federer said.

“It’s a challenge, but one that we are committed to tackling. We can make a real difference by combining our resources, expertise, and passion for this cause.”

Speaking to Parliament on 11 February, Basic Education minister Siviwe Gwarube said that “investment in early child learning will yield powerful dividends later on in life. And indeed for our economic prospects.”

She said to achieve this, they are focusing on:

• Expanding access to quality ECD programmes;
• Prioritising Foundation Phase teaching careers in the Funza Lushaka Bursary Scheme;
• Reviewing Post Provisioning Norms to reduce class sizes and improve outcomes;
• Updating the National Catalogue of Learning and Teaching Support Materials;
• Protecting teaching and learning time.

“This is key to ensuring that our children have strong learning foundations that will unlock opportunities for them to excel in school and participate in our economy.”

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