Another 20 schools have been closed over the last 72 hours as the education crisis continued to deepen. Eight secondary schools in Central Province were closed over the weekend following disturbances by students. This brings to 27 the number of institutions closed in the province this month alone.

Independent schools are not the exclusive enclave of the wealthy, but cater to many different communities, writes Jane Hofmeyer in a recent issue of Independent Education magazine.

Lynn Huntley, executive vice president of the Southern Education Foundation, a public charity based in Atlanta, Georgia, writes: "No matter what the official documents issued by governments and the UN say or don't say, people of African descent and their allies can use the time together profitably and well. And whatever the official documents say or don't say, our work combating racism, inequality and related forms of intolerance will begin afresh when we all return back home."

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, who is also Secretary-General of the Conference, said the Durban meeting would be "nothing less than a conference to discuss the core principles that should underpin this new century. It is an important opportunity for the world community to commit, for the first time in the post-apartheid era, to a truly global effort to address the ancient and the modern manifestations of this evil."