There was major differences between the treatment of white and black people. The government even ignored the quality of education for African children. In fact, in 1949, only 30% of black children from the ages of six to eleven attended school. Under the apartheid system, the racial groups received different forms of education to help develop their separate cultural identities. The Bantu Education Act of 1953 was the first effort on behalf of the South African government to give funding for schools with attendance of Non-white children. In 1974, around 75% of Bantu children enrolled in the school systems. Although this was a high amount of Bantu children in school, there was still high dropout rates after primary school. This was true because the teacher to student ratio was too low(one teacher to fifty six students) and education did not give advantages for finding work. Although there have been efforts to provide education for children in South Africa, orphans and street children were not considered during the creation of these acts, especially during aparthied.

It was started in 1970 by a group of people who did believe in or accept the education system within South Africa. The founders of this school believed that the education system in South Africa was racist. The Woodmead School was the first fully racially integrated school. It also integrated children of all different religions. Children in this school studied a standard cirriculum as well as an Integrated Studies course. In this course, relevant topics of discussin(religion, ideologies, survival, and the war) were examined and discussed within the diverse body of students.

Non-whites have protested many times to receive an equal opportunity in schooling. For example, in October 1985 at Western Cape High School, students boycotted for an equal and fair education. Nevertheless, during apartheid, 2-2 1/2 times more money was spent on white children than black children. Therefore, whites received superior education than blacks did. Furthermore, blacks had to pay higher school fees than white children. These things show that no matter what non-whites did to try and help themselves in education, they were still not being treated fairly.

It is a list of laws that was created for the benefit of children in South Africa. One area stressed in this Charter is education. It states that all children in South Africa must receive equal education. This law has only been around since 1990. Even with these laws, in 1996, black children still struggled to enter into white children's school's. Although stated by law that black children cannot be barred from schools due to race, ethnic or social origin, culture, or language, they were turned away from white schools. This was true because Dutch-descened whites believed that mixing races was a sin. Today, white children still attend schools of luxery compared to the under-funded education for blacks.

Despite Mandela's Charter, education of black South African children does not rank highly among the government's priorities. While there are "7 million children in South Africa, only about 500,000 have access to early childhood education." Still, today, whites enroll in private schools with mandatory attendance, and blacks attend public school without mandatory attendance. Therefore, although recently much is being done to help black children receive equal education to that of white children, much more needs to be accomplished.