South Africa, while embracing its new-found BRICS status and being one of the world’s high-growth markets, recognises that it needs to address two major sectors – infrastructure and education.

The country’s government, of course, has earmarked a long-term infrastructure spending budget costing billions, but on the subject of education the South African population, it seems, is not prepared to wait that long.

In comparison to the underperforming state sector, which sees 65% of the million pupils who leave school every year emerge without a school certificate, the private education sector – albeit a cut-price version of the one in the UK – is flourishing.

Parents are taking the fee-paying route in the face of rising youth unemployment and skills shortages.

According to the Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa, over the past decade independent school enrolments have grown by 76%, with a “significant number” of schools charging less than $777 a year.

Private schools account for just 5% of total enrolments, but the rise reflects a trend across developing nations, experts say.

“This is a positive phenomenon that has come out of failure,” said Ann Bernstein, at the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE).

“The public [state] schooling system is a huge management challenge. Why should we believe it can and will be fixed, and why should poor parents wait?”

Although enrolment rates have improved since the end of apartheid, about 80% of schools are underperforming, according to the National Planning Commission.  

African National Congress (ANC) officials admit the failings in the education system, which are partly a legacy of the apartheid era, but also a result of mistakes the party has made since coming to power in 1994.

Angie Motshekga, basic education minister, said last week that contrary to general perception, progress has been made. “In fact, we have turned the corner, irreversibly so,” Motshekga told the ANC’s youth league.

St Francis is one of the more established private schools.  It goes back to the 1980s, when its headmistress, Dian Cockcroft, began training black adults. Parents then brought their children along, and, as demand grew, the school was established in 1989.

Its fees range from R870 to R1,030 a month, with 650 pupils and class sizes kept to a maximum of 30. It achieved a 100% pass rate in its recent end-of-high-school exams, with an 82% pass rate for university entrance.

Many of the new breed of low-cost private schools struggle with resources – a survey by CDE discovered schools in abandoned factories and shacks; a number were also unregistered; and teachers were underqualified. But CDE said it found they were no worse than state schools and significantly better in some areas.

The concern among some, however, is that unscrupulous people could take advantage of parents yearning for brighter futures for their children.

Cockcroft said: “Some people see the demand, they find teachers who are often not qualified – they have awful conditions – and they open schools, making empty promises to desperate parents.”

But Bernstein said the key with affordable private schools is that many grow out of communities and are accountable to the parents in a way that state schools are not. In state schools, teachers are protected by powerful unions, despite being criticised for low standards and a poor work ethic.

“If these schools are getting better results than equivalent state schools with teachers who have less formal education but more commitment than equivalent state schools, which would you prefer? And parents are showing their preference,” Bernstein added.

Fears about South Africa’s education system is shared by many – In December, a mother was crushed to death as students rushed for places at the University of Johannesburg.