CASME in partnership with Casio and Sharp calculators have launched the #FutureFund campaign to address the poor performance of school children in mathematics in South African schools. Only 9% of the over 600,000 children who sat for the final school examination in 2016 achieved more than 50% in mathematics.

Research has demonstrated that a calculator for personal use with training and support can improve learner performance in mathematics. At least 15% of the maths exam can be answered quickly using a good scientific calculator. With the knowledge that many learners don't have a calculator the mark allocations for these questions are low. But, if you don’t have a scientific calculator you are going to spend a lot of time answering very low mark questions, which sets you up to not being able to answer higher mark questions that don’t need a calculator.

Research also shows that maths marks predict future income. It’s not difficult to see why. If you perform better in grade 11 and 12, you are more likely to be accepted into university (and earn a bursary) and thus get a better paying job. If we want to improve South Africa’s economy we need to start producing strong maths students and results from all walks of life.

Each set of calculators will be accompanied by a workshop, so that not only do these students have access to the right tools, they can use them effectively too. And of course, if we surpass our goal, we will keep going until we run out of money.

We want to reward you for getting involved so:

Teachers – the school that raises the most money towards the #FutureFund will also get 40 calculators of their choice.

Companies – donate more than R20 000 and choose to nominate the school they are sent to.

CASME is an NPO so you will also receive a tax certificate for supporting this worthy cause. We will also send you a picture of the students with their calculators so that you can see the positive impact you have made on them.