Students from Limerick's primary teacher training college, Mary Immaculate, are doing placements in South Africa as part of their final-year studies.
The links were established through the Sisters of Mercy, who formally run the college and have schools throughout the State, and the South African Minister for Education, Dr Kader Asmal, a former Trinity College lecturer.
Mr Paddy Fulham, a lecturer in social and environmental studies, said six students did part of their third-year alternative education in-service in Johannesburg and Mmakau, in the North West Province. "We are in the process of trying to set up a more structured way of encouraging links between Mary Immaculate College and developing countries," he said.
Three of the students worked in remote areas and the other three in Soweto, the impoverished suburb of Johannesburg. These six are due to qualify in three weeks.
Ms Mary Guest from Offaly said she taught in an all-boys secondary school in Tsogo, where there are over 50 pupils to every class. There were few facilities, she said, and space was limited. "You would not be able to walk around the class."
She explained that the children's parents are known as the `lost generation' because they lost out on a formal education during the years of anti-apartheid unrest.
Ms Brid O'Donoghue, from Tipperary, said that every child was willing to learn. "Education is really, really important for them. Even at an early age, they were all aspiring to be doctors, pharmacists and lawyers."