The Millennium Development Goals in South Africa

What happens when continuous assessment is added to established teaching practices? A study shows that South Africa has the opportunity to implement such assessment and promote more interactive teaching methods. Nevertheless, entrenched attitudes may make new practices hard to apply.

Research programmes from Ghana, Uganda and South Africa analyse poverty-related returns on investment targeted at different aspects of education.

JOHANNESBURG, Mar 4 (IPS) -- Ten years after the demise of apartheid, South African blacks are still waiting for a slice of the economic pie they were denied in the past.

War on Want project partner, the Anti Privatisation Forum, is on the front line of fighting urban poverty in post-apartheid South Africa. APF chairman Trevor Ngwane spoke to War on Want's John Coventry about future prospects for a country mired by rising poverty.

Did the groundbreaking Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), whose work followed the 1994 election, successfully heal the wounds of earlier decades in South Africa? Helena Cobban analyses South Africa's progress over the last ten years.

© Human Rights Globalization

This wide-ranging criticism of leadership in South Africa in last ten years suggests that class apartheid has replaced racial apartheid, as living standards for only a tiny minority of the black community have improved. The blame lies with the willingness to adopt a U.S. neo-liberal agenda at the expense of working people.

The South African government’s neglect of schools on commercial farms prevents thousands of rural children from receiving an adequate education, says Human Rights Watch. The Government should allocate greater resources to overcoming the conflict of interests between landowners and families of rural workers.
From: Human Rights Watch

The South African government could provide a Basic Income Grant to the poor by raising taxes, according to research commissioned by a coalition of civil society organisations. The coalition has argued that 21.9 million people exist below the poverty line, many of whom are not covered by the current system of social welfare grants.

The soccer World Cup in 2010 is a great opportunity for economic development in South Africa. But already there are concerns that the continuing exodus of skilled labour may undermine the country's capacity for major infrastructure projects.

Ten years after the introduction of democracy, an academic study argues that social stability is at risk because of growing inequality. There is consensus that approximately 40 percent of South Africans are living in poverty and that South Africa has one of the most unequal income distributions in the world, especially between the new black middle class and those who have been left behind.