school

Nigerian Kunle Adeyemi's floating school in Makoko, Lagos, has received widespread international appeal and won the acclaimed architect several awards.

With the aim of one school a week, hundreds of schools are being built or refurbished under the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative. All of these schools have enough classrooms, water, sanitation and electricity, and include libraries, computer and science labs.

When they discovered they were hopelessly prepared for university after matriculating from a township school, Nonhlanhla Masina and Melusi Radebe decided to make sure other youngsters did not flounder. They set up the African School of Excellence, which is having great success in raising academic levels.

Global Dignity Day, celebrated on 15 October, aims to teach young people how to help others live with dignity. Brand South Africa spent the day with the pupils at Umtata Christian School, who run a range of dignity-related projects.

In Africa, there is a deeply entrenched belief that education is wasted on girls, that their lot in life is to raise a family. But the truth is that gender equality in education boosts economic growth. Girls Charge focuses on improving access to quality education in some of Africa's most marginalised communities.

Mercy Senyatsi is an ordinary South African doing something extraordinary; she homes school pupils who need care and loving consistency.

Thousands of children go to school without breakfast. They are lethargic and cannot concentrate. This makes teaching and learning impossible, trapping them in poverty. Alongside government feeding schemes, the private sector has initiatives to put food in every child's stomach.

South African bank Ubank has further demonstrated its commitment toward education in rural areas of the country, this time with the handover of new and improved school facilities at the Zinini Junior Secondary School in Bizana in the Eastern Cape.

First there were the dreary little boxes of RDP houses. Then there came the growing recognition that it's not just houses that need to be built; communities and places where people actually want to live are required. And Cornubia is one of the first communities to come out of the Breaking New Ground policy.