While South Africans both young and old will be celebrating youth day on Monday (16 June) here are some interesting facts about the youthful event that saw apartheid abolished.
Youth Day marked on 16 June is a commemoration of the young people who lost their lives in the struggle against apartheid and in particular, against Bantu education which was unjust.
Interesting facts:
The Bantu Education Act, established by the Apartheid Government in 1953, legislated a different curriculum for black pupils that would not provide an equal education alongside their white counterparts.
Instead, Bantu education provided schooling that would prepare black children for positions in service under whites or laboring on homelands.
Owing to this, classrooms were overcrowded and many teachers were unqualified.
In 1961 only 10 percent of black teachers had a matriculation certificate.
Soweto Uprising:
The first uprising was in Soweto on16 June where no new high schools were built between 1961 and 1972.
This was to try and force learners to move back to new schools in their so-called homelands.
As new schools were built after 1972, the number of children in school in Soweto tripled which resulted in the growth of a stronger, more politicised youth culture.
In 1976, the removal of Standard 6 now known as Grade 8, by the Department of Bantu Education meant that thousands of students were forced to stay in overcrowded primary schools.
However this resulted in chaos.
At the time, the Department of Education announced that certain lessons had to be taught in Afrikaans (the Afrikaans Medium Decree).
This was a language that many of the black teachers could not speak themselves.
Taking to the streets:
Amidst the unhappiness with the Bantu education system, an imperative to use the language of their oppressors led black students to protest.
On 30 April pupils from Orlando West Junior School went on strike and others later joined in.
The Soweto Students’ Representative Council’s (SSRC) then organized a mass rally with the support of the Black Consciousness Movement.
On 16 June, 20 000 pupils between the ages of 10 and 20-years-old from numerous schools in Soweto took to the streets in what was designed to be a peaceful demonstration.
As the police intervened, shots were fired, panic and violence escalated.
Lives lost for freedom:
On the day in question, 23 people died while thousands injured in the turbulence and violence that followed.
Two days later, the authorities had closed all schools in Soweto and Alexandra.
Hector Pieterson, a 13-year-old boy from Orlando West High School was one of the first students to be shot, and became a symbol of the Soweto Uprising.
Many white South Africans were outraged at the events, university students protested against the killings, workers went on strike, and by the end of 1976 the death toll stood at more than 600 people, with thousands more injured
All of us should recognize and remember the bravery and sacrifice that young people made to free South Africa. It is their legacy that young people today must stand up to protect.
