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Nomalanga is a lecturer in History at Rhodes University, and also an experienced education campaigner, setting up an organisation called Save Our Schools and Community, which took the President of South Africa and the national Department of Education to court over the way failing schools were dealt with in the Eastern Cape.  She now believes that children and their parents would be better served by abandoning the state system and attending low-fee, low-cost private schools instead.

Adam is a Professor of Political Science with 30 years of experience in academia and administration.  Last year he took over as Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, which is known as a centre of research excellence, and consistently ranks in the top few universities not just in South Africa but in Africa as a whole. He wants to improve the educational experience for the 18% of children that go to university, while not forgetting the other 82%.

Ismail is the Artistic Director of the National Arts Festival, responsible for commissioning and pulling together the complex and diverse programmes of events each year.  In his career he has been both an educator and an artist – working as a maths teacher in the 1980’s and then moving into play writing and running theatres.  He thinks that the arts enhance education, and provide a more holistic learning experience.