The clock is ticking for 17-year-old Nonhlanhla Mashabana. For months, she’s buried herself in her textbooks. Now, instead of enjoying her matric dance like any teenager should, she can't shake her anxiety about the make-or-break final exams. They're just weeks away. In South Africa, the odds are against her: just 12 out of every 100 students who start Grade 1 will ever reach university. As Nonhlanhla prepares for her greatest challenge yet, the question is: Can she overcome a broken education system, or will it bring her down with it?  

Show Notes 

This is episode two of a series from Radio Workshop that explores the transition to higher education in South Africa. Listen to Episode One, Finding the Right Words.

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Sources: 

• Youth Capital Education Brief
• Public Servants Association of South Africa - Fixing Higher Education in South Africa
• Business Tech - University Fees
• Stats SA - Income and Expenditure Survey
• News24 - Campus crisis: 337 158 matrics qualify for university admission but there are only 202 000 places

Acknowledgements:

Luminate, the Constitutionalism Fund, the Shin Creek Trust, the Anne Levy Charitable Trust, the SCP Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Pam and Bill Michaelcheck. 

Special thanks to Rob Byers, Clotilde Angelucci at Youth Capital, and to Hindenburg for supporting our projects across Africa with audio editing software.