The role of the private sector in education has become a very hot issue internationally and it has tended to lead to generalised and polarised statements rather than nuanced debates. Attempts to debate the role of ‘non-State actors’ in education often exacerbate the problem - as a huge range of different actors, roles and contexts get lumped together. The reality is more complex than many people (including myself) sometimes make it seem.

In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a public school funding system based primarily on local property tax revenues does not violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause nor does it violate the right to education because, although education is an ‘important service’ it is not a fundamental right, as recognised by the U.S. Constitution.

Have you ever heard children telling you they want their education to stop when they reach the end of primary school?

I have interviewed hundreds of children in many countries and not a single one of them has ever said ‘enough!’

Lawsuits challenging state methods of funding public schools have been launched in 45 of the 50 states over the past 40 years, and in recent years they have been extraordinarily successful.

On Tuesday 2 December 2015 a full bench of the Supreme Court of Appeal delivered a beautiful, globally significant judgment. In essence it said that the Department of Basic Education’s (DBE) failure to provide learners in Limpopo with their textbooks directly infringed on their rights to basic education, equality and dignity and amounted to unfair discrimination. The DBE’s appeal in the Limpopo textbooks saga was therefore dismissed and Basic Education For All’s (BEFA) cross appeal was upheld.

On 24 November 2015 the Department of Basic Education (“DBE”) will argue before the Supreme Court of Appeal that delivery of textbooks to each learner in South Africa for each of their subjects before the beginning of the school year is an “impossible standard of perfection”.

South Africa’s education system is widely accepted to be in crisis. An alarming number of its children are functionally illiterate and innumerate. Many schools lack equipment, infrastructure and even basic necessities like furniture.

In this context, could improving access to textbooks make any real difference?