South Africa

=== Education ===
{{Main|Education in South Africa}}
[[File:UCT Upper Campus landscape view.jpg|thumb|The [[University of Cape Town]]]]
The adult [[literacy]] rate in 2007 was 89%.<ref name=unescolit>{{cite web|title=National adult literacy rates (15+), youth literacy rates (15–24) and elderly literacy rates (65+)|url=http://stats.uis.unesco.org/unesco/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=210|publisher=UNESCO Institute for Statistics|access-date=3 May 2013|archive-date=29 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029183908/http://stats.uis.unesco.org/unesco/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=210|url-status=dead}}</ref> South Africa has a [[Three-tier education|three-tier system]] of education starting with primary school, followed by high school, and tertiary education in the form of (academic) universities and universities of technology. Learners have twelve years of formal schooling, from grade 1 to 12. Grade R, or grade 0, is a pre-primary foundation year.<ref name=edufacts0831>{{cite web|url=http://www.southafrica.info/services/education/edufacts.htm|title=A parent's guide to schooling|access-date=31 August 2010|archive-date=22 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100722160229/http://www.southafrica.info/services/education/edufacts.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Primary schools span the first seven years of schooling.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.southafrica.info/about/education/education.htm|title=Education in South Africa|publisher=SouthAfrica.info|access-date=20 June 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100617125606/http://www.southafrica.info/about/education/education.htm|archive-date=17 June 2010 }}</ref> High school education spans a further five years. The [[Matriculation in South Africa|National Senior Certificate]] examination takes place at the end of grade 12 and is necessary for tertiary studies at a [[List of universities in South Africa|South African university]].<ref name=edufacts0831 /> Public universities are divided into three types: traditional universities, which offer theoretically oriented university degrees; [[Institute of technology|universities of technology]] (formerly called ''[[technikon]]s''), which offer vocationally-oriented diplomas and degrees; and comprehensive universities, which offer both types of qualification. There are 23 public universities in South Africa: 11 traditional universities, 6 universities of technology, and 6 comprehensive universities.

Under apartheid, schools for black people were subject to discrimination through inadequate funding and a separate syllabus called ''[[Bantu Education Act, 1953|Bantu Education]]'' which only taught skills sufficient to work as labourers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/sidebar.php?id=3|title=Bantu Education|publisher=Overcoming Apartheid|access-date=20 June 2010|archive-date=15 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815013451/https://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/sidebar.php?id=3|url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2004, South Africa started reforming its tertiary education system, merging and incorporating small universities into larger institutions, and renaming all tertiary education institutions "university". By 2015, 1.4&nbsp;million students in higher education have been aided by a financial aid scheme which was promulgated in 1999.<ref name=Cele>{{cite news|last1=Cele|first1=S'thembile|last2= Masondo|first2=Sipho|title=Shocking cost of SA's universities|url=http://www.fin24.com/Economy/Shocking-cost-of-SAs-universities-20150118|access-date=19 January 2015|agency=City Press|publisher=fin24.com|date=18 January 2015|archive-date=19 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150119205443/http://www.fin24.com/Economy/Shocking-cost-of-SAs-universities-20150118|url-status=live }}</ref>