This article investigates inequalities in school attainment in South Africa using
community-based data collected in 2008 by the National Income Dynamics Study. Schools-based
research has concluded that poor children, who are mostly African, remain disadvantaged by the
continuing low performance of former African schools. In contrast, this analysis finds that most
educational disadvantages of African children, including their low matriculation rates, are accounted
for by household poverty and their mothers’ own limited education. Thus, earlier studies may not
have adjusted fully for pupils’ backgrounds or the performance of former African schools may have
improved since 2000.