This paper presents a discussion of the strategic education sector issues and policy options that the World Bank believes to be at the heart of efforts to expand and strengthen school education provision for all South Africans. The general focus on school education reflects the area in which the Bank was requested to work by the ANC Education Department between 1992 and 1994. It is for this reason that issues related to primary and secondary education receive the lion's share of attention and that other sub-sectors (notably, Adult Basic Education and Training) are not dealt with. Similarly, the paper touches only briefly on certain key educational issues (such as language policy and curriculum reform) that the Bank believes play an important role in the learning outcomes of South African pupils, but which fall outside the requested scone of work.