Educational exclusion is one of the biggest barriers to economic mobility globally – and this particularly true for disadvantaged communities in South Africa. One of the primary drivers for this exclusion is the cost of education – especially private education. The Ignite Education Fund was established in 2019 with the aim of reducing this educational exclusion through its funding activities that ensure that more South African scholars can attend private school. The Ignite Education Fund gives families whose socio-economic circumstances deny them the opportunity to benefit from private education access to a private school that they would not have otherwise.

The Ignite Education Fund and SPARK Schools have partnered together to ensure that SPARK Schools families who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic have the opportunity to continue receiving the benefits of quality private education for their children. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, access to high-quality education will become an even bigger challenge for these families as breadwinners face retrenchments, salary cuts and lost income in their own businesses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.