COURSE CODE: SAE3701
ASSIGNMENT NUMBER: 02
UNIQUE NUMBER: 852604
Year: 2023
*Please note that these assignments are from the year 2023 and may only be used as a
guideline to answer questions.
*Copying directly from this assignment is prohibited.
, Question 1:
The Soweto uprising in 1976 contributed largely in changing, among other things, the
landscape of the education system in South-Africa.
Write an essay to respond to the question:
What can we learn from the youth of 1976, and are these lessons still applicable to the youth
of today?
June 16, 1976 an uprising started in Soweto, a suburb of the city of Johannesburg, changed
the lives of many South Africans, including the landscape of the South African educational
system. High school student-led protests in South Africa started on this day and spread
country wide in response to the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in
local schools. According to the source, (SAHO 2013) an estimated amount of 10 000 black
high school students took part in the so called “peaceful” protests known as the Soweto
uprising, but did not turn out to be peaceful at all.
Various factors have led to the uprising and goes all the way back to the policies of the
Apartheid government which resulted in the introduction of the Bantu Education Act in
1953. Now what is Bantu education? Bantu Education was created by the National Party
government of South Africa and during the Apartheid era it was the official educational
system for black South Africans which purpose it was to make sure that black people of
South Africa would only be able to work as semi-skilled or unskilled residents, while being
intelligent enough to do skilled work.
The Bantu Education system allowed the huge amount of urban working-class youth into
schools and achieved success in stabilising the education system, but however created new
problems for the government which lead to a greater crisis by the 1970’s (Hyslop 1999).
The rise of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) and the formation of the South
African Students Organization (SASO) increased the political awareness of many students,
while others joined the wave of anti-apartheid sentiment within the student community. In
1974 black students started to mobilized themselves when Afrikaans became compulsory as
a medium of instruction in South African schools. In the year 1976, black students were
mobilized by the Action Committee and supported by the Black Consciousness Movement to
peacefully march and protest against the Apartheid Government directives. The march was
planned to end at a rally at Orlando Stadium but on their way, they have encountered
heavily armed police forces who shot tear gas and live ammunition at the protestors which
sparked a rebellion resulted in an anti - government uprising (SAHO 2013). During the
Soweto uprising students were brutally killed while some of them were still under the age of
eighteen.
2
ASSIGNMENT NUMBER: 02
UNIQUE NUMBER: 852604
Year: 2023
*Please note that these assignments are from the year 2023 and may only be used as a
guideline to answer questions.
*Copying directly from this assignment is prohibited.
, Question 1:
The Soweto uprising in 1976 contributed largely in changing, among other things, the
landscape of the education system in South-Africa.
Write an essay to respond to the question:
What can we learn from the youth of 1976, and are these lessons still applicable to the youth
of today?
June 16, 1976 an uprising started in Soweto, a suburb of the city of Johannesburg, changed
the lives of many South Africans, including the landscape of the South African educational
system. High school student-led protests in South Africa started on this day and spread
country wide in response to the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in
local schools. According to the source, (SAHO 2013) an estimated amount of 10 000 black
high school students took part in the so called “peaceful” protests known as the Soweto
uprising, but did not turn out to be peaceful at all.
Various factors have led to the uprising and goes all the way back to the policies of the
Apartheid government which resulted in the introduction of the Bantu Education Act in
1953. Now what is Bantu education? Bantu Education was created by the National Party
government of South Africa and during the Apartheid era it was the official educational
system for black South Africans which purpose it was to make sure that black people of
South Africa would only be able to work as semi-skilled or unskilled residents, while being
intelligent enough to do skilled work.
The Bantu Education system allowed the huge amount of urban working-class youth into
schools and achieved success in stabilising the education system, but however created new
problems for the government which lead to a greater crisis by the 1970’s (Hyslop 1999).
The rise of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) and the formation of the South
African Students Organization (SASO) increased the political awareness of many students,
while others joined the wave of anti-apartheid sentiment within the student community. In
1974 black students started to mobilized themselves when Afrikaans became compulsory as
a medium of instruction in South African schools. In the year 1976, black students were
mobilized by the Action Committee and supported by the Black Consciousness Movement to
peacefully march and protest against the Apartheid Government directives. The march was
planned to end at a rally at Orlando Stadium but on their way, they have encountered
heavily armed police forces who shot tear gas and live ammunition at the protestors which
sparked a rebellion resulted in an anti - government uprising (SAHO 2013). During the
Soweto uprising students were brutally killed while some of them were still under the age of
eighteen.
2
