SUNDAY marked World AIDS Day and the annual airing of shocking statistics from this modern plague. South Africa is one of the worst-hit regions where one in five adults have HIV/AIDS. Against this backdrop is a nation trying to develop and shake-off the legacy of apartheid - a struggle where education is key. Playing his part in a bid to deliver a brighter future for The Rainbow Nation is one intrepid South Lakeland head teacher, as reporter Jennie Dennett discovers.

At a time when most teachers were catching up on the shut-eye over the summer holidays, Mike Major of John Ruskin School, Coniston, was acclimatising to life with no electricity and just the use of a pit toilet.

Mr Major had traded his break from the chalk face for a five-week placement as a global teacher in a remote school in South Africa's Eastern Cape, where the nearest road was four hours away.

His remit was to train teachers and improve planning and curriculum development in the school during his stay, organised by the British Government-backed scheme Link Community Development. The school at Nxaxa where Mr Major was to work was as stark as contrasts get to John Ruskin School.

There was no mains water, just a rain collection tank. The brick building was modern but there was nothing in it apart from enormous blackboards and desks. Teaching was old school and the pupils passive and quiet - something the roving head was keen to change.

"The teachers write on the board for 15 minutes, then go outside to get warm while the kids copy what is on the board. I said this is note taking, copying, but not learning," said Mr Major.

So in came the IMPALA system, aka the Interim Major' Proposal for Active Learning in Africa. To handle the classes of 50, he elected student teachers to lead group work and hand out merit marks for children who asked questions.

Also up for challenge was the school curriculum that harked back to a time when the South African government deliberately kept education for blacks basic so they would not aspire above their station. Literature and history was mainly European.

"There's some wonderful African literature but they were doing Yates's Wild Swans at Coole," said Mr Major, who took up the issue with the regional education minister - a former Robben Island cellmate of Nelson Mandela.

Ensuring the kids avoided the extra challenge of reading their classics upside down from a distant book on a neighbour's desk was also subject to a Major' improvement. "They all get a book at the beginning of the year for each subject and are told if they lose it, they have to pay for it. So being wise and poor, they go home and hide them."

The solution to this was to store the books in school. So started the learning followed by the gentle tea revolution to tackle sexism. In a country where men still pay for their brides, the women are expected to do all the domestic work.

"The girls watch the boys clean the school every Friday. Within the staff, men can't make tea. I thought I'm going to beat this one!'" said Mr Major.

Since there was only one mug between the staff, he bought cups for the women who made him tea and ensured he was seen making his own brew now and then. Eventually a male teacher did go so far as to switch on the kettle. "I was so proud," he said.

Now Mr Major is back at Coniston, fully recovered from a nasty bout of dysentery and reflecting on his stretch in South Africa. "I'm older, wiser and more reflective," he said. Five weeks surrounded by poverty has also made him queasy at the sight of wastefulness.

"I've had real trouble adapting to England and the fact that we have so much we can afford to throw it away. I can't even throw out a plastic bag now."

Getting used to British teens again also proved tricky, with much restraint required not to wear out the phrase you don't know how lucky you are'.

"I don't have the same tolerance level as I had before for childishness," he said, explaining the tongue-lashing one pupil got for a "silly" episode of ruler snatching.

Crucially, he is keen that the Nxaxa stay enhances John Ruskin students' understanding of life beyond the Lakes. Assemblies and projects at school will draw on his experiences and he is due to go back out in two years' time.

For Mr Major, despite the material hardships of living with meagre food supplies and a lack of creature comforts, he has returned deeply impressed. "There's a lot that's good in the Eastern Cape. To go from apartheid to a multi-cultural environment without violence is amazing."

And for an educator, it was clearly a privilege to feel truly valued again. "There are students wanting to learn, prepared to walk 11km in the morning, then arrive in school uniform. They have got something right, they have got respect for their teachers."