South Africa's main parties all have plans for education. What's missing?

Since South Africa’s shift from apartheid to democracy in 1994 there have been many achievements in the education sector. These include establishing a single education system that caters to all children, improved access, and support for the poor through no-fee schools.

But plenty of work still remains: the quality of education is not equal across the system, and many students still drop outbefore obtaining a school-leaving qualification.

South Africa holds national and provincial elections on May 8. In anticipation of this important ballot, we have assessed what each of South Africa’s three biggest political parties say about education in their manifesto.

We focused specifically on what the governing African National Congress (ANC) and the two main oppositions parties – the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) – offered by way of novel solutions to the country’s education issues.