The report from the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa examines the critical factors that affect rural schooling in South Africa, focusing on the three provinces KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and Limpopo. The report argues that the historical development, contours and consolidation of power relations between urban and rural, and within rural areas, have resulted in neither formal nor substantive equality for people living in rural areas. It states that for rural development strategies to be sustainable they need to integrate both educational issues as well as community participation.