Reflecting on 43-years Soweto uprising commemoration

The recent 43rd commemoration of 16 June 1976, when youth became martyrs in a struggle for emancipation, deserves some introspection.

A hail of bullets ended the lives and maimed many in a struggle that heightened global condemnation. They perished in a quest for a child’s most cherished wish – good quality education. Twenty-five years on, and the question still lingers: Has democracy lived up to that expectation?

Apologists for the status quo could be forgiven for suggesting that the success of protracted struggles should be measured against centuries of subjugation of victims, that the roots of oppression may never be entirely removed and that the residual effects will continue to be part of our daily life and national psyche if not forever. This all despite national policy dictating that every child should have equal access to good quality education.

As a result of this, many early childhood development (ECD) initiatives have mushroomed, some in the remotest of places. Grant support is provided for children attending school in areas classified as poor, based on the living standard measure of their families. In private-public partnerships, corporations to contribute bursaries and scholarships to poor children with potential and zeal to excel academically. Thousands of them continue to excel in various fields after tertiary study, attesting to the equal ability every child, if given a chance, has to attain the highest there is in education to better themselves, their families and to be well-rounded individuals who contribute positively to the nation. The partnerships also contribute to children who are less academically inclined by upgrading their workplace skills as recognised and relevant professions for the country’s industry and commerce sectors.

Yet, it seems that inequality continues to prevail and is condemned by those whose hope for fundamental change in the last 25 years has been fading away. They are worried about the failure and seeming timidity of the champions they entrusted to ensure real change as well as revelations by commissions of inquiry on the unashamed misuse of public resources through grand scale corruption for self-enrichment, in addition to the costly maladministration.

The apparent lack of urgency to bridge the gap on inequality transcends to classroom level. Many early childhood development centres and some schools have been found to be bogus while other, legal ones have been known to take advantage of the poor by offering them paltry services through unqualified personnel and sometimes unsafe playgrounds for children of parents who pay dearly from their meagre resource.

The thousands who have accessed the basics in literacy, numeracy, health and hygiene which are essential for academic excellence and self-care have been lucky as thousands more are falling through the cracks in mainly rural, remote and informal settlement schools. They are still taught under trees and or in dilapidated classrooms by unqualified teachers in high teacher-learner ratios. Some children have died in unsafe toilets after years of broken promises of proper sanitation.

Many in primary and secondary school, including 14-year-olds, are forced to abandon school due to pregnancy following rape or sexual abuse which leave them psychologically scarred for life. Some schools are gang infested and environments for bullying and substance abuse, dangerous weapons are confiscated following police searches and many teachers live in fear. Other schools’ classrooms are burnt down by parents in their ransom wars with government on service delivery.

These issues need introspection, particularly by the ‘Class of 1976’ and youth in general. Was their struggle in vain?