South Africa: Beyond Apartheid, Inequality Endures

Thirty years after the end of apartheid, South Africa’s classrooms still bear its scars. A child in Johannesburg’s affluent suburbs attends a school with robotics labs and digital libraries. Meanwhile, in Eastern Cape, another studies under a leaking roof, with no access to the internet.

Despite constitutional guarantees of equal education, the legacy of segregation persists through economics. Roughly 70% of South African schools lack adequate libraries, and nearly half still rely on pit toilets. Rural schools, mostly Black, remain under-resourced, while urban private academies cater to a privileged few.

Yet South Africa also exemplifies resilience. Community-led tutoring, mobile learning apps, and radio-based education programs emerged during the pandemic to reach students without internet access. Learning Without Limits has drawn inspiration from these models in our own remote education initiatives — proving that equity doesn’t always require high technology, but rather high commitment.

Educational reform in South Africa is ongoing and urgent. The nation’s challenge — bridging excellence and equity — mirrors the global struggle. For every country striving toward fairness, South Africa’s story offers both a warning and a blueprint: dismantling inequality demands not just new schools, but new systems of care.