diff --git a/.github/workflows/readme.yml b/.github/workflows/readme.yml
index 75359c477f4..07ba299d958 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/readme.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/readme.yml
@@ -5,14 +5,11 @@ on:
       - main
   pull_request:
 jobs:
-  readme_presence:
+  verify_readmes:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - name: Checkout Repo
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
-      - name: Install zsh
-        run: sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install zsh
-
       - name: Run readme.sh
-        run: ./.github/workflows/scripts/readme.sh
+        run: ./verify_readmes.sh
diff --git a/.github/workflows/scripts/readme.sh b/.github/workflows/scripts/readme.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 281d6690aec..00000000000
--- a/.github/workflows/scripts/readme.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/zsh -ex
-
-# Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
-# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
-
-dirs=(`find . -type d -not -path "*/internal*" -not -path "*/test*" -not -path "*/example*" -not -path "*/.*" | sort`)
-topdir=`pwd`
-
-for dir in $dirs; do
-	echo "checking $dir"
-
-	cd $dir
-	pwd
-	if [ ! -f "README.md" ]; then
-		echo "couldn't find README.md for $dir"
-		exit 1
-	fi
-	cd $topdir
-done
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 62d3e856d6c..b55d07764e2 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -208,6 +208,9 @@ Each (non-internal, non-test, non-documentation) module must contain a
 
 The README should not be a repetition of Go doc comments.
 
+You can verify the presence of all README files with the `make verify-readmes`
+command.
+
 ## Style Guide
 
 One of the primary goals of this project is that it is actually used by
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 6b6a01c1441..a3b86be97cf 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -8,13 +8,15 @@ ALL_GO_MOD_DIRS := $(shell find . -type f -name 'go.mod' -exec dirname {} \; | s
 OTEL_GO_MOD_DIRS := $(filter-out $(TOOLS_MOD_DIR), $(ALL_GO_MOD_DIRS))
 ALL_COVERAGE_MOD_DIRS := $(shell find . -type f -name 'go.mod' -exec dirname {} \; | grep -E -v '^./example|^$(TOOLS_MOD_DIR)' | sort)
 
+ALL_PACKAGES := $(shell find . -type d -not -path "*/internal*" -not -path "*/test*" -not -path "*/example*" -not -path "*/.*" | sort)
+
 GO = go
 TIMEOUT = 60
 
 .DEFAULT_GOAL := precommit
 
 .PHONY: precommit ci
-precommit: generate dependabot-generate license-check misspell go-mod-tidy golangci-lint-fix test-default
+precommit: generate dependabot-generate license-check misspell go-mod-tidy golangci-lint-fix verify-readmes test-default
 ci: generate dependabot-check license-check lint vanity-import-check build test-default check-clean-work-tree test-coverage
 
 # Tools
@@ -305,3 +307,7 @@ add-tags: | $(MULTIMOD)
 .PHONY: lint-markdown
 lint-markdown: 
 	docker run -v "$(CURDIR):$(WORKDIR)" avtodev/markdown-lint:v1 -c $(WORKDIR)/.markdownlint.yaml $(WORKDIR)/**/*.md
+
+.PHONY: verify-readmes
+verify-readmes:
+	./verify_readmes.sh
diff --git a/verify_readmes.sh b/verify_readmes.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..1e87855eeaa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/verify_readmes.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+dirs=$(find . -type d -not -path "*/internal*" -not -path "*/test*" -not -path "*/example*" -not -path "*/.*" | sort)
+
+missingReadme=false
+for dir in $dirs; do
+	if [ ! -f "$dir/README.md" ]; then
+		echo "couldn't find README.md for $dir"
+		missingReadme=true
+	fi
+done
+
+if [ "$missingReadme" = true ] ; then
+	echo "Error: some READMEs couldn't be found."
+	exit 1
+fi