The search results opened like a door. A website called LeerKind.co.za appeared, filled with past papers from schools across Gauteng. There were maths papers with fractions and word sums, English comprehension tests, natural sciences quizzes, and even Afrikaans exams with memorandums —the answer keys. And everything was free.
Within a month, Iphuteng Primary’s fourth-grade test scores rose higher than any other school in the circuit. Parents asked how. “ Graad 4 vraestelle en memorandums gratis ,” the children would chant, laughing.
Lerato was a quiet, determined fourth-grader who lived in a small house on the edge of Soweto. Her mother worked long hours at a clinic, and her father drove a taxi between Johannesburg and Pretoria. Every night, after helping with the dishes, Lerato would sit at the kitchen table under a dim bulb and study. But there was a problem.