It is possible for South African schools facing huge challenges to get noteworthy results.

Each weekday, hundreds of thousands of children and teenagers in South Africa's rural areas (which make up just over 31% of the country's total area) make the journey to school. It's often difficult. Poor road networks and a lack of easy access to transport make just getting to and from school a challenge.

Many rural schools are dilapidated and poorly equipped. It's very unusual for these schools to have libraries, computer rooms or science laboratories.

There has been some improvement in matric (school-leaving) exam results in the largely rural provinces. In 2016 the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo - provinces that are home to about 72% of rural South African children - were ranked last among all nine provinces.

The most recent results, for the matric class of 2023, show progress in these underperforming areas. KwaZulu-Natal, for instance, was ranked second out of the three rural provinces, with 86.3% of its matric candidates passing the final exam.

But despite some bright spots, there is a sense among experts and pundits that rural education needs to be entirely reimagined.

I am an education researcher with a particular interest in rural schooling. In a recent...