GRADE LEVEL SECTION SUB-SECTION DURATION
12 SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY FROM RESISTANCE TO DEMOCRACY 5 LESSONS

Resistance and Extra Parliamentary Activities
Mass Resistance until 1994
Schools, Universities and the National Education Committee

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The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall be Opened!
The government shall discover, develop and encourage national talent for the enhancement of our cultural life;

All the cultural treasures of mankind shall be open to all, by free exchange of books, ideas and contact with other lands;

The aim of education shall be to teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace;

Education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children; Higher education and technical training shall be opened to all by means of state allowances and scholarships awarded on the basis of merit;

Adult illiteracy shall be ended by a mass state education plan;
Teachers shall have all the rights of other citizens;
The colour bar in cultural life, in sport and in education shall be abolished.

Source U
Extract from the Freedom Charter, 1985

The slogan “The doors of learning and culture shall be opened” formed an important aspect of mass resistance and is also written in the Freedom Charter, adopted by the ANC in 1955. Like all state services education was segregated, with each race allocated its own administrative authority. African people were represented by the Department of Education and Training, Indian by the House of Delegates, Coloureds by the House of Representatives and white people were represented the Department of Education.

Source V

“…I will reform education so that Natives will be taught from childhood that equality with Europeans is not for them…”

Source W
Extract from a speech by Hendrik Verwoerd

In support of the township protests, schools and universities also organised class boycotts and demanded equal and free education for all. They did this under the leadership of the Congress of South Africa Students (COSAS), the Azanian Student Organisation (AZASO), the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) and South African Student Organisation (SASO). Students also organised themselves around other issues eg. white students formed the End Conscription Campaign to lobby against forced call up to the army. With the huge security apparatus in place, a compulsory two-year army service from all white males was to be extended to boost government troop reserves. Many young conscripts fled the country to avoid being forced to maim and kill fellow countrymen or face a jail sentence for not complying with this order.

Source Y

Learning Outcome 3: Knowledge construction and communication
Learners will be expected to synthesise information about the past to develop, sustain and defend an independent line of historical argument. They will be expected to communicate and present information reliably and accurately in writing and verbally.

Activity 10

Source based questions:

  1. In two paragraphs, write your own understanding of “Democratic Education”.
    (Source V)
  2. What do you think of the forced recruitment of young white males into the Army? Explain your answer. (Source Y)
  3. What is meant by “basic human rights”? (Source Y)
  4. What is the aim of education? (Source U)
  5. Do you think Source W and Source X are correct in what they say? Debate this in the class.
  6. Compare sources U, V, W and Y and try to show the role played by educational organisations in the liberation struggle. Write 1-2 pages on this, giving your sources if you quote from the extracts you have been given here.

 

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