Youth and Education

South Africa has made some astounding strides in recognising and achieving human rights in the past 22 years. In the run up to Human Rights Day, we look back at some milestones.

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.

Lucas Radebe aims to pass on to young people the values he grew up with, as well as those he learned during his playing career, as captain of Bafana Bafana and Leeds United. He espouses discipline, a good work ethic and, most of all, honesty. Beyond Sport, set up to use sport to make a real difference, dovetails with these ambitions.

Sibusiso Vilane is the first African, and one of only a handful of people, to accomplish the Explorers Grand Slam – the Goliath Challenge. He is a walking, talking advertisement for perseverance and resilience, spreading the message that "we Africans can reach great heights" around the world.

State-owned companies and major business have a responsibility to step forward, invest and create jobs, says Transnet. The parastatal is doing its bit to invest in education, and offers bursaries and internships to hundreds of students.

Six students at the University of Cape Town are in the running for the Hult Prize, the world's biggest student competition. At stake is $1-million to get their business off the ground. The benefits are far-reaching, and the system could help underprivileged people across the country.

Over half a million candidates wrote South Africa's school-leaving national senior certificate – or matric – exams last year, and 78.2% of them passed. This is the highest matric pass rate in the country's modern democratic history, according to results released by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga last night.