The Soweto Uprising of 1976 an education Related Outcry by Students

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A system of legal separation amongst races dominated the Republic of South Africa, namely apartheid between 1948 until 1993. Apartheid led to the separation and discrimination between whites against people of colour. Not only was this racism commonly accepted between whites against blacks, but it was also legally enforced as white’s maintained priority in terms of housing, education, political power and jobs. I will be examining a particular event, The Soweto Uprising of 1976 which was an education related outcry by students. This event carries with it a great deal of importance as it was a very powerful thing to impact South Africa and help in the deconstruction of the Apartheid government.
A decree issued by the Bantu Education in 1976 caused major upset amongst black South African students, leading to their opposition and ultimate protest of marching against this decree which imposed Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in half the subjects in both primary and middle schools. Not only that, but members at the time of the ruling National Party spoke Afrikaans which angered the students further as they saw it as the “language of the oppressor”. Both African teachers and students experienced the negative implications of this decree as neither had a grasp of the language. The frustration felt among students (and teachers) can be seen based on this example from an article from ‘The World’ newspaper, 18th May 1976 which basically reported students who “threatened to beat up their headmaster” because of the alleged sacking of the school board’s head for protesting against Afrikaans. Although other factors are considered, it was ultimately the introduction of Afrikaans as well as English by the Bantu Education system that was the im...

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...agitators and so took it upon themselves to torture captive black people as punishment.
This unrest continued as many young people left the country out of thorough frustration with the government’s unyielding harassment against the black community through the police. Those who fled did not complete their education as they opted instead to undergo military training and join military camps as to prepare themselves for the possibility of orchestrating acts of sabotage against the apartheid government. This pattern continued in the on-going fight against apartheid which finally collapsed towards the end of the 1980s.
South African received her long awaited right to democracy in 1994 with the majority of the exiles returning home in the early 1990s.

Works Cited

http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu
http://africanhistory.about.com/od/apartheid/a/Soweto-Uprising-Pt2.htm

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