Adult Learning Assignment 1
Le-Anne Goliath
16688627
The need for AET in South Africa
South Africa’s low literacy rates cannot be discussed without mentioning the apartheid policies
which existed in the country before 1994. These policies created racial segregation and
structural inequalities, including service delivery and access to education. Such inequalities
account for a lot of the illiterates found in South Africa (S.A.) today. This paper aims to critique
as well as reflect on the need for Adult Education and Training (AET), as a tool for lessening
illiteracy within S.A.
The Afrikaner National Party came into power in 1948. One of their first acts as the ruling the
party, was to establish a committee to draw up the principles of education for non-white
citizens. This led to the implementation of the Bantu Education Act of 1953 (Kaiper,
2018:743). The committee that formulated this act stated that non-white citizens should be
given segregated, low quality schooling to create a consistent influx of cheap and unskilled
labour (Baatjies & Mathe, 2004: 400). While according to McKay (2007: 287), the Bantu
Education Act was formulated to “impose obedience, communal loyalty, ethnic divisions,
acceptance of allocated social roles, and identification of rural culture.”
A schooling system designed to keep non-white citizens oppressed resulted in many parents
keeping their children home, thereby making them illiterate. The uprisings from 1976 onward,
relating to unequal education also attributed to the low literacy rates in S.A as those who wanted
to attain this inferior form of education were hindered from doing so (Kaiper, 2018: 743).
According to Kaiper (2018:747), the first adult literacy classes began in the 1920s, with the
creation of night schools. At these schools, adult learners were taught basic literacy and
numeracy skills as well as topics related to politics and economics, in order to create a sense
of critical awareness surrounding politics within these students. However, these were also
segregated, and the night schools offered to non-whites were poorly resourced. Moreover, after
1948 it became punishable by law to teach black adult learners in non-government registered
schools (Aitchinson & Land, 2019: 140). This too, lends itself to the low literacy rates in S.A.
After 350 years of segregation, it is imperative that AET based on emancipating the illiterate
is implemented to assist the generations of marginalized individuals who were unable to enrol
into formal schooling.
Fortunately, in 1999 S.A held their first democratic elections which saw the fall of apartheid
and the rise of democracy, this new democratic government aimed at creating a country of
1
Le-Anne Goliath
16688627
The need for AET in South Africa
South Africa’s low literacy rates cannot be discussed without mentioning the apartheid policies
which existed in the country before 1994. These policies created racial segregation and
structural inequalities, including service delivery and access to education. Such inequalities
account for a lot of the illiterates found in South Africa (S.A.) today. This paper aims to critique
as well as reflect on the need for Adult Education and Training (AET), as a tool for lessening
illiteracy within S.A.
The Afrikaner National Party came into power in 1948. One of their first acts as the ruling the
party, was to establish a committee to draw up the principles of education for non-white
citizens. This led to the implementation of the Bantu Education Act of 1953 (Kaiper,
2018:743). The committee that formulated this act stated that non-white citizens should be
given segregated, low quality schooling to create a consistent influx of cheap and unskilled
labour (Baatjies & Mathe, 2004: 400). While according to McKay (2007: 287), the Bantu
Education Act was formulated to “impose obedience, communal loyalty, ethnic divisions,
acceptance of allocated social roles, and identification of rural culture.”
A schooling system designed to keep non-white citizens oppressed resulted in many parents
keeping their children home, thereby making them illiterate. The uprisings from 1976 onward,
relating to unequal education also attributed to the low literacy rates in S.A as those who wanted
to attain this inferior form of education were hindered from doing so (Kaiper, 2018: 743).
According to Kaiper (2018:747), the first adult literacy classes began in the 1920s, with the
creation of night schools. At these schools, adult learners were taught basic literacy and
numeracy skills as well as topics related to politics and economics, in order to create a sense
of critical awareness surrounding politics within these students. However, these were also
segregated, and the night schools offered to non-whites were poorly resourced. Moreover, after
1948 it became punishable by law to teach black adult learners in non-government registered
schools (Aitchinson & Land, 2019: 140). This too, lends itself to the low literacy rates in S.A.
After 350 years of segregation, it is imperative that AET based on emancipating the illiterate
is implemented to assist the generations of marginalized individuals who were unable to enrol
into formal schooling.
Fortunately, in 1999 S.A held their first democratic elections which saw the fall of apartheid
and the rise of democracy, this new democratic government aimed at creating a country of
1
