Enriching the understanding of freedom in SA

In 2011, Tsogo Sun and the Apartheid Museum initiated an educational programme in partnership with the Gauteng Department of Education, as part of the Grade 9 curriculum and educational framework by providing the opportunity for school pupils to visit the museum.

The programme is still running, and through it the Apartheid Museum has been able to facilitate an educational understanding and experience of the rise and fall of the apartheid regime.

The Apartheid Museum encapsulates the story of a historic South African struggle, the struggle for freedom.

Vusi Dlamini of Tsogo Sun said some schools could not afford to visit the museum due to limited school budgets.

“Because these pupils are afforded the opportunity to tour the museum for free, they are able to engage in this part of their curriculum and visually experience a part of their heritage,” said Dlamini.

Every Wednesday of the school term, transport is arranged by the Tsogo Sun Learning Academy for 50 students and two teachers to participate in a guided tour of the museum.

The guided tour is an emotional journey which includes 22 individual exhibits encompassing provocative film footage, photographs, text panels and artefacts illustrating the events and human stories that are part of the epic saga known as apartheid.

Motlatsi Motepe, a pupil of Ikaneng Primary said, “SA was one of the worst places to live in during apartheid, but I am grateful for where we are today and for the progress the country has made. It was a combined decision between former presidents, Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk that has led us here and it is these moments that make me want to be an historian.”

During the course of the year, about 1 400 pupils and 56 educators from 28 Soweto schools will have the opportunity to visit and experience the Apartheid Museum through this initiative.