Overcoming Bantu Education in Post-Apartheid South Africa
The initial teacher union and African National Congress resistance to Bantu education in the late 1950s and early 1960s created small sparks in the movement against apartheid, but the flame didn't last. On June 16, 1976, black youth in a township outside of Johannesburg initiated a protest that would come to be known to as one of the turning points in the decades-long struggle for liberation from apartheid. That day and the events that followed were heard and seen around the world.
Impetus for Change: The Soweto Uprising of 1976
Away with the language of the oppressor
Although Afrikaans was designated as one of the languages of instruction in Bantu schools from the very beginning of apartheid education policy, the government did not start enforcing it until 1975, when the minister of Bantu Education announced the compulsory use of Afrikaans in black schools (Hlatshwayo 83). Not only did most teachers in black schools not know how to speak Afrikaans, but the language also represented yet another source of the oppression and control white supremacy exercised on black South Africans.
On June 16, students organized a march through Soweto in protest of Afrikaans. Between 3,000 to 10,000 students held signs that read, "Down with Afrikaans" and "Bantu Education - to Hell with it" as they marched toward the Orlando soccer stadium, where a peaceful demonstration would take place ("Soweto Student Uprising").
On their way over to the stadium, they were met by heavily armed police officers who threatened violent force and soon started firing tear gas and live ammunition into crowds of students (consciouness.co.za). While some students ran for cover, others fought back by throwing stones at the police.
The effects of the violence sparked even more outrage throughout South Africa: "That day, two students, Hastings Ndlovu and Hector Pieterson, died from police gunfire; hundreds more sustained injuries during the subsequent chaos that engulfed Soweto. The shootings in Soweto sparked a massive uprising that soon spread to more than 100 urban and rural areas throughout South Africa" ("Soweto Student Uprising"). In total, about 566 school children were killed because of the protests (South African History Online).
The Aftermath of Soweto
People's Education: A Second Turning Point?
The next “turning point” in the liberation struggle occurred with the introduction of People’s Education during the mid-1980s and early 1990s. People’s Education (PE) was “as an educational movement, vehicle for political mobilization, an alternative philosophy of education, or as a combination of all three” (Motala and Vally 174). The idea for People's Education came out of the education conference at the University of Witwatersrand in December 1985, where Father Mkatshwa defined the new concept:
"When we speak of alternative of people's education we mean one which prepares people for total human liberation; one which helps people to be creative, to develop a critical mind, one that prepares people for full participation in all social, political, or cultural spheres of society" (qtd. in Hlatshwayo 94).
It was seen as providing a foundation for an equal education system in a democratic South Africa and represented a clear alternative vision from Bantu education. With the approval of the ANC, the conference rejected school boycotts and called for students to return to school, replacing the slogan of "Liberation now, education later," with "People's Education for People's Power" (Hlatshwayo 95)
People's Education was "a new form of education for all sections of our people," according the one of the resolutions at a March 1986 conference known as Black Education's Easter of Reckoning (Hlatshwayo 95). It was a new expression of democracy during a time of a neo-dictatorship.
The democratized ideals of People's Education would continue to gain support among the liberation struggle against apartheid and eventually become a culminating impetus for apartheid's end.
The photograph of Hector Pieterson's dead body to the right became an iconic image distributed around the world that showed the horrific results of the Soweto Uprising. It was taken by Sam Nzima, who said:
"I saw a child fall down. Under a shower of bullets I rushed forward and went for the picture. It had been a peaceful march, the children were told to disperse, they started singing Nkosi Sikelele. The police were ordered to shoot" (South African History Online).
The Soweto Uprising had both immediate and longterm effects. To maintain the momentum of resistance, leaders of the Soweto Students Representative Council, which was founded in August 1976, encouraged adults to participate in protests in order to increase the generational impact of their fight against Bantu education and apartheid in general ("Soweto Student Uprising").
But the resistance did not come without casualties:
"Sporadic clashes between students and police continued into 1977; by the end of the year, the government acknowledged that nearly 600 people had been killed, although recent research showed that at least 3,000 people died. Thousands more were imprisoned and many black South Africans fled into exile or joined the armed struggle" ("Soweto Student Uprising").
Activists characterized the uprising as a source of invigoration for a previously silent struggle, as well as a distinct turning point in the liberation struggle against apartheid. It can be argued that the uprising sparked a domino effect of reform and transformations that ultimately lead to the dismantling of apartheid ("Soweto Student Uprising").
The uprising lead to some concessions by the state, which included the abandonment of the compulsory use of Afrikaans, allowing African teachers' unions to officially submit complaints to the Bantu Education Department, increased admittance of black students to "white" universities, and the Department of Bantu Education changing its name to the Department of Education and Training (Hlatshwayo 86).
Despite some successes, the Soweto Uprising marked "another turning point at which South Africa did not turn (qtd. in Hlatshwayo 92).
Nzima, Sam "Hector Pieterson"
Photos taken by Magubane, Peter
“10 Fighting Years: People’s Education for People’s Power.” United Democratic Front