Roger Federer visits Zambia to check on his foundation

The 20-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer arrived in Zambia to check on how is his foundation doing.

The Roger Federer Foundation (RFF) began its work in Zambia in August 2011, aiming to provide equitable access to quality basic education to children.

‘Very happy to be in Zambia, working with the Roger Federer Foundation,’ Federer wrote on a Twitter post.

Federer meets with Zambian president

On Monday, the tennis star met with Zambian president Edgar Lungu.

The two held talks before Federer presented the politician with an autographed racket.

‘I met World Tennis Champion Roger Federer who paid a Courtesy call on me at State House. He is in the country to check on his foundation, the Roger Federer Foundation (RFF), which aims at providing equitable access to quality basic education to children,’ Lungu wrote on his Facebook official account.

‘It’s important to note that his foundation began its work in Zambia in partnership with People’s Action Forum (PAF) in August 2011 and launched a community school initiative in rural areas of #Zambiatogether with It’s local partner organization.’

Education: A complicated issue in Zambia

According to the UNESCO’s Education For All (EFA) Zambia’s profile, children from the Southern African country face tremendous lack of classrooms, resulting in double or even triple shift systems and high pupil-teacher ratios (58 pupils per teacher).

However, the most concerning issue is the resulting low level of learning achievements, as the country attained the lowest scores in both reading and math of all countries participating in the 2007 Evaluation of Southern and Eastern African Consorting for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ).

To counter this situation, the Board of the RFF has approved a total budget of 1.6 million Swiss Franc.

According to information by the Lusaka Times, the program has reached over 85,000 children so far.