Early Life and Education
Smith was born in Grahamstown and attended St. Andrew's Prep before matriculating at Union High School in Graaff-Reinet. He then went on to study at Rhodes University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and chemistry, followed by an honours degree (cum laude) in chemistry at the same institution. Following that, he obtained a masters degree from the University of Natal (Pietermaritzburg campus) in only seven months.
Deciding that he would rather pursue a teaching career, Smith left industry and moved to the education sector, where he started Star Schools - the aim of these schools are to provide value for money education with top class teachers. During the next twenty-five years he became famous throughout South Africa, where his schools have taught almost a million pupils of all races. Smith also won the Teacher of the Year award.
In 1990, Smith began producing The Learning Channel educational television programmes with the financial backing of Hylton Appelbaum, then executive director of the Liberty Life Foundation. As a result of his work on this programme, Smith was voted as one of the top three presenters on South African television in 1998.
Read more about this topic: William Smith (South African)
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