South Africa has an estimated 3 million illiterate adults and another 8 million are functionally illiterate. The importance of increasing access to education and stimulating a love of books and learning cannot be overestimated.

Hout Bay is unique in South Africa in that three communities (black, white and coloured) live side by side. However the majority of people are previously disadvantaged and poverty and hardship are an everyday reality. Despite the change in democracy; good schooling and housing is out of reach for the most, due to the scarcity of skills and availability of jobs. This is particularly true to Hout Bay.

The government schools available to the majority are overcrowded and under resourced. There is just one secondary school where the primary language is Afrikaans which only serves one third of the constituency.

Private v Public 2006 Education Statistics, released February 2008.

There are currently 949 539 learners at government schools across the Western Cape, and 28 978 learners at private schools in the province

• The learner to teacher ratio at government schools is currently 32 to 1, compared to 17 to 1 at private schools
• The Matric pass rate at public schools is 57.1%, verses 98.4% at private schools
• The average reading and writing score in Grade 3 (age 8) is 39%
• The average maths score is 30%
• Close to 60% of pupils are reported to drop out before Matric

86% of learners in South Africa are in public schools compared to 2.5% in private schools, (11.5% in other learning institutions).