About Youth Day

Youth Day, celebrated annually on 16 June, is a commemoration of the young people who lost their lives during the Soweto youth uprising on 16 June 1976 in the struggle against apartheid and in particular, against the unjust Bantu education system. This year Monday, 17 June was declared a public holiday as 16 June fell on a Sunday.

The South African government website at https://www.gov.za/YouthDay2019 describes it as follows:

“In 1975 protests started in African schools after a directive from the then Bantu Education Department that Afrikaans had to be used on an equal basis with English as a language of instruction in secondary schools.

“The issue, however, was not so much the Afrikaans as the whole system of Bantu education which was characterised by separate schools and universities, poor facilities, overcrowded classrooms and inadequately trained teachers.”

What will you be up to on Youth Day? Email us at randfonteinherald@caxton.co.za.