Thembisile Buthelezi: 21894434 History & Sociology of Education - 771

Since 1652, when white Europeans came to South Africa (Christine 1985b:31), amongst other
things that have changed, education is the one concept that has been affected and still is even
today. These white settlers (the Dutch) came to take advantage of African people and that has
stood out in history as the consequences of their act is still in effect. In colonial education after
1815, South Africa was colonized for the second time by the British, taking over the Dutch
government (Christine 1985b: 33). According to Christine 1985b: 34, the British paid more
attention when it came to education than Dutch did. She continues to say, British colonizers
used this as an opportunity to instill their cultures and traditions including religion, and
language in order to take social control. English language was declared official during this
period.

In this essay, I aim to argue on how education systems in South Africa have changed over time
and how this affected the citizens pre-apartheid and post-apartheid. In doing so, I interviewed a
South African citizen, Mr. Matheta Ntuli, a high school Mathematics teacher of KwaDlangezwa
High School, who is by birth, from KwaZulu Natal in a small village town called Melmoth. During
our interview, I asked him questions about his personal life, education background and career.
He raises his concerns and opinions about the current systems of education in South Africa. We
found out how location, i.e., the place where one resides, the color of one’s skin and the
language, play a role in education they receive. This essay focuses more on history of education
that took place from 1979 till present.

I understand that our parents may have experienced a very different education system
compared to ours. Which is worth being looked at because I attended the same schools that my
parents attended in 1970s. I am interested in understanding what changed and what has not
changed about the education system of South Africa. The history of my Primary school is the
same as Mr. Ntuli’s, the interviewee in this essay, but he shares different experiences than
mine. After primary school, I attended high school at KwaNxusa High school located in
KwaMagwaza mission, in Melmoth KwaZulu-Natal. The school was a missionary school but
when I joined the school in 2011, the school was no longer a missionary school. Access to
higher education was not an easy journey for me but I managed to get in my first year after I
Thembisile Buthelezi: 21894434 History & Sociology of Education - 771

finished matric. Black communities struggle economically and is a huge factor that contributes
to inaccessibility of education in South Africa.

Firstly, I wanted to know Mr. Ntuli’s education background from primary school to his tertiary
studies. His reply seemed as someone who does not remember much about his primary school
as it was long ago. He went to Mcakwini Primary School. He started schooling only when he was
10 years old. He says no one had gone to school in his family then. His mom was working as a
cooker at the farm, she cooked for the workers and the owners also, while on the other hand,
his father was working on another farm called KwaVende (Van Der). This school was founded in
1912. In history, this period was when the African national Congress (ANC) was birthed. “The
African National Congress party was involved in political opposition to racist rules in South
Africa. Its involvement was related to education was less important than compared to its
oppositional political ruling parties. For example, its development of its position on educational
change was never a primary consideration” (Govender, Sam & Fataar, Aslam. (2015)). This
means that the ANC did not have a clear educational policy that was formulated to fully support
education until the year 1992 when it was sent back to South Africa after exile. Mr. Ntuli
indicated that he was not aware of political paradigm during this time and he did know about
ANC involvement as to bringing about change in education of South Africa that time.

This is not surprising to me because learners were not taught history in that time and for one to
be aware of the social and educational issues, the family had to have access to media and
unfortunately this was not the case for my guest. Mcakwini Primary School is a farm school that
was originally owned by white people. Mcakwini primary was a missionary school. According to
Christine, 1985c: 64, missionaries was a group of people who came from different countries of
Europe spreading the Gospel. They wanted African people to be taught to work and work for
them. To find that Mcakwini primary school was a missionary school located in white owned
farm verify these statements by Christine in her book The Right To Learn, 1985, Chapter 3, The
Church and Education. The language of instruction used by the school was English. When asked
how did he find learning in English in terms of difficulty was, Mr. Ntuli indicated that amongst
other things that were complications as far as education was concerned, language barrier was
Thembisile Buthelezi: 21894434 History & Sociology of Education - 771

one of them. Even though he managed to pass his primary school, he says it was not an easy
transition also given the fact that he started schooling late.

Mr. Ntuli started his grade one class in 1976 at 10 years old. Now, in this year, South Africa
went through a lot of chaos, violence, protests and killings. This is the year that is recognized
mostly when the education of South Africa is being discussed. In 1976, there was a significant
event in South African education known as the Soweto Uprising. The biggest march against
Bantu Education Act. On June 16th, thousands of black students in Soweto, a township near
Johannesburg, protested against the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in
their schools, which was seen as a way to impose the language of the white minority on black
students (The 1976 Soweto Uprising in South Africa, 2018). The protest was met with a violent
response from the police, resulting in the deaths of many students. The Soweto Uprising
sparked a wave of protests and resistance against apartheid policies in South Africa, and
brought international attention to the struggle against racial discrimination in the country
(Senker, 2011).

It also marked a turning point in the struggle for equal access to education, as black students
continued to fight for the right to learn in their own language and for equal resources and
opportunities in education. Mr. Ntuli was young and he does not remember his school affected
by this chaos, he said. In his opinion, the reason for this was because the school teaching was
not focused on education that was expected to be received by the learners equally at that time.
He referred to it as, “we were still treated as slaves and they were teaching us so that we can
join our parents and work for them (white people) and with hope to never become anything
better”. As much as he was not involved and affected by the Soweto uprising movements, he
still appreciates and recognize the lives of the Heroes lost. He said he would do the same if he
was a Soweto resident and older. South Africa has fought for equal education and till today we
are still fighting the same battle, said Mr. Ntuli. It is unfair that black students from
underprivileged areas are expected to compete with students from privileged school while the
government is fully aware of the inequalities the education system has, he added.
Thembisile Buthelezi: 21894434 History & Sociology of Education - 771

I wondered if the learners that went to school with him, including him, if they were aware of
the curriculum they were taught in high school? I mean, I attended my high school in 2011 –
2015 and not at any point we were taught or made aware of what curriculum was about. The
educators would complain to us about the changes in curriculum but we never really
understood what was it about and how did it have to do with us. Mr. Ntuli studied in times of
apartheid curriculum, Christian National Education (CNE) which was effective since 1940/50s
until it was banned post-apartheid in 1990sAs I predicted, Mr. Ntuli never knew what
curriculum was about but he was aware that there is something called curriculum. This is also
an interesting conversation because Freire: 1970, explains the concept of curriculum by
criticizing its focus. In this manner, Freire believes that curriculum should be designed by
students and teachers, collaboratively, based on their interests and experiences with teaching
and learning. He continues to say it should be a dynamic, an ongoing process where teachers
and learners continuously reflect critically. By this, learners will feel in charge and take
responsibility in their own learning. He believes that the curriculum should be designed to
empower students to critically engage about social issues like social injustices, inequalities in
order to bring about change in their communities.

In 1983, he started high schooling at Dabulani High School in Pietermaritzburg. When asked
about the differences between education in a farm versus education in a township, he
highlighted that he found township schools better than the ones in the farm, simply because
the township has better development than a farm. According to Christie, 1985b: 58, during this
period, the government had accepted the De Lange guiding principles which were
recommending the single department of education, equal quality education for all South
Africans. Technology was emphasized and the industries were told to conduct training
workshops for black workers. Other protests stirred by students to strike against the election
for new Tricameral parliament. The introduction of Student Charter movement. Mr. Ntuli
managed to finish his high-schooling on-record time and he pushed to enter a tertiary
institution to further his studies in bachelor of Education as a Mathematics teacher.

Between 1988 and 1989, he took a gap year and got a job in Durban. He went back to further
his studies at University of Zululand, in 1990. During this time, he says it was not easy to access
Thembisile Buthelezi: 21894434 History & Sociology of Education - 771

education as a black student due to financial struggles and racism that was still in effect. He
finished his studies in 1993 and started working as a teacher in 1992.

REFERENCES

Cristie, P. 1985b. January 1991. Right to learn: the struggle for education in South Africa. The
International Journal of African Historical Studies: 11-65
Cristie, P. 1985c. January 1991. Right to learn: the struggle for education in South Africa. The
International Journal of African Historical Studies: 11-65
Govender, Sam & Fataar, Aslam. (2015). Historical continuities in the education policy
discourses of the African National Congress, 1912-1992. South African Journal of Education. 35.
1-8.
10.15700/201503070016.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276783210_Historical_co
ntinuities_in_the_education_policy_discourses_of_the_African_National_Congress_1912-1992
HuffPost. 2018. The 1976 Soweto Uprising in South Africa. [online] Available at:
<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/adst/the-1976-soweto-uprising_b_8416954.html>
[Accessed 12 April 2018].
SENKER, C. 2011. South Africa's anti-apartheid movement- World book - Chicago