South Africa spends 5.4% of its GDP – or 16.9% of total government spending in 2009 – on education. This is more than most emerging- market countries can afford, yet still, we remain far behind a number of these countries in terms of educational performance.

Unicef estimates that in Zimbabwe, 10 children have to share a single textbook. But the country’s Grade 6s still score higher than South African pupils in both literacy and Maths. What does this tell us? Having worked for the Zimbabwean Ministry of Education from 1982 to 1992 and South Africa’s Department of Education from 2002 to 2007, Dr Martin Prew is uniquely qualified to explore. This is a summary of his comparison in the article, ‘Neighbourly lessons in education’, published in the Mail & Guardian in January 2012.