Giving Compass' Take:

• The author recounts the grave misfortunes that South African children have to face every day, from rape and violence, the poor education system, to drowning in open pit latrines. 

• How can philanthropists mitigate some of these challenges for South African children? What would be the first issue for funders to examine? 

• Read about six South African youth activists trying to advance rights for students. 

Children’s basic human rights seem to have fallen to the bottom of our list of priorities in South Africa right now.  Social media is flooded with stories of horrific child abuse, and more recently the scandal over pit latrines in schools has erupted again.

Meanwhile, the quality of education, the number of child-headed households, exposure to violence, and the impact of inequality on the provision of basic services for children remain major concerns.

Every day in the year between 2016 and 2017, 52 children were raped and two children were murdered in South Africa, the South African police service told parliament.

Add to this the tens of thousands of babies abandoned across the country — 2 in 3 of whom are reported to have died — and revelations from a 20-year investigation that 99% of the children studied had witnessed violence or been a victim of it, and it is not surprising that global humanitarian organisation World Vision recommended violence against children in South Africa be treated as a national disaster.

Urgent action against open pit latrines in South African schools has been announced this month, after several high-profile cases of children tragically falling into toilets and drowning sparked national outrage.

Then, in 2013, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) released the minimum "norms and standards for schools infrastructure" policy — making it a legal requirement for every school to have water and working toilets.

The No-Fee Schools policy has abolished school fees in the poorest primary schools across South Africa, helping to attract underprivileged and vulnerable children to school.

But while it’s helped give education access to millions of children, the quality of education is still proving problematic.

Read the full article about kids in South Africa by Marvin Adams at Global Citizen