Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. - Nelson Mandela
The Township population is about 34,000 in an area just under 2,000,000 sq/ft Each "housing unit" houses 8-10 people in one room and they only have communal public restrooms
South Africa was colonized by the English and Dutch in the seventeenth century. English domination of the Dutch descendents (known as Boers or Afrikaners) resulted in the Dutch establishing the new colonies of Orange Free State and Transvaal.
The discovery of diamonds in these lands around 1900 resulted in an English invasion which sparked the Boer War.
Following independence from England, an uneasy power-sharing between the two groups held sway until the 1940's, when the Afrikaner National Party was able to gain a strong majority.
Strategists in the National Party invented apartheid as a means to cement their control over the economic and social system. Initially, aim of the apartheid was to maintain white domination while extending racial separation. Starting in the 60's, a plan of "Grand Apartheid'' was executed, emphasizing territorial separation and police repression.
Since 1994 and the end of apartheid, black African enrollment in higher education has nearly doubled, and continues to grow faster than overall higher education growth, at about 4.4% a year. Key strategies of the educational reform include offering free meals to students during the school day, providing free schools to the poorest areas, improving teacher training programs, standardizing progress assessments, and improving school infrastructure and management.
However, 27% of 6th grade students are functionally illiterate while only 4% of the wealthiest students are functionally illiterate, indicating a stark divide in literacy between the races. The spatial segregation of apartheid continues to affect educational opportunities.