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South Africa’s education system is in a crisis. Most of the children attending South African schools fare poorly on almost every metric, and are ill-prepared for the world after school. More tragically, those who suffer the most from poor schooling are disproportionately black children.

Here are a few facts;

• South Africa spends more on education than most advanced economies such as the United States and the United Kingdom, yet its primary education system was rated 126th out of 138 countries in the World Economic Forum 2016-2017 Global Competitiveness Report.
• According to the Progress in International Reading and Literacy Study 2016 almost 8 out of 10 grade 4 pupils in South Africa cannot read.
• 50% of children do not make it to Grade 12 (which is approximately half a million learners each year)

Nelson Mandela once said “Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mine worker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.” We, at Kagisano Foundation like Nelson Mandela believe in the power of education. As a result, we are committed to playing our part, however small, to plugging the holes in ship  that is South Africa’s education system to make sure it does not sink and to unleash the potential and the success embedded in the youth.