History of South Africa: Education
Education system in South Africa became segregated and unequal. White schooling was compulsory, free of charge, and expanding. On the other hand, Black education was lacking and neglected. School facilities, teachers and educational material were insufficient. Furthermore there was also student absenteeism and non-enrolment.
There was an Inquiry in 1936, but little was done to address these discrepancies and problems. (South African History Online, n.d.) Gaps in educational opportunities for different racial groups were widened by the Bantu Education Act (No. 47) of 1953. (Byrnes, 1996). Bantu Education was first introduced in 1955. (Hamilton, 2006).
Various elements of National Socialist (Nazi) philosophy, especially racial “purity”, was adopted by the two architects of Bantu education. They were Dr W. M Eiselen and Dr Hendrik F. Verwoerd (Minister of Foreign Affairs). This philosophy provided a reason for the whites to keep the black education inferior. Verwoerd felt that the blacks should be educated only for their specific opportunities in life and that they only had places in certain types of labour. By eliminating most of the financial aid, churches were forced to close down or sell their schools to the government, tightening the government’s control over religious high schools. Cultural diversity was reinforced by educators through the reliance of “mother-tongue’ instruction in the first few years of primary school. These actions give the idea that a person’s ethnic identity defines their social responsibilities and political opportunities. (Byrnes, 1996).
Even though during the 1960s the numbers of school for blacks increased, their curriculum was only sufficient in equipping the children with skills for menial jobs.
Per-capita government spending on white education were ten times more than those spent on black education during the 1970s. (Byrnes, 1996). Black’s classrooms were overcrowded. There was a lack of teachers and most of them were unqualified. A third of white teachers had university degrees while the rest had all passed the standard 10 matriculation exam. On the other hand, only 2.3% of Black teachers have a university degree, 82% don’t even have a standard 10 matriculation and more than half had not reached Standard 8. (Heaton, Amoateng & Dufur, n.d.)
Daniel Francois Malan
The President of South Africa in 1948, he believed in white supremacy. To justify why he and the national party decided to create Apartheid system, he said ‘The policy of racial segregation is based on Christian principles of what is fair and reasonable. Its goal is the maintenance and protection of the European population of the country as a pure white race and the maintenance and protection of racial groups as indigenous communities in their own separate areas, or follow the course of equality, which in the end will mean the suicide of the white race, or take the course of segregation’ (2013).
There was an Inquiry in 1936, but little was done to address these discrepancies and problems. (South African History Online, n.d.) Gaps in educational opportunities for different racial groups were widened by the Bantu Education Act (No. 47) of 1953. (Byrnes, 1996). Bantu Education was first introduced in 1955. (Hamilton, 2006).
Various elements of National Socialist (Nazi) philosophy, especially racial “purity”, was adopted by the two architects of Bantu education. They were Dr W. M Eiselen and Dr Hendrik F. Verwoerd (Minister of Foreign Affairs). This philosophy provided a reason for the whites to keep the black education inferior. Verwoerd felt that the blacks should be educated only for their specific opportunities in life and that they only had places in certain types of labour. By eliminating most of the financial aid, churches were forced to close down or sell their schools to the government, tightening the government’s control over religious high schools. Cultural diversity was reinforced by educators through the reliance of “mother-tongue’ instruction in the first few years of primary school. These actions give the idea that a person’s ethnic identity defines their social responsibilities and political opportunities. (Byrnes, 1996).
Even though during the 1960s the numbers of school for blacks increased, their curriculum was only sufficient in equipping the children with skills for menial jobs.
Per-capita government spending on white education were ten times more than those spent on black education during the 1970s. (Byrnes, 1996). Black’s classrooms were overcrowded. There was a lack of teachers and most of them were unqualified. A third of white teachers had university degrees while the rest had all passed the standard 10 matriculation exam. On the other hand, only 2.3% of Black teachers have a university degree, 82% don’t even have a standard 10 matriculation and more than half had not reached Standard 8. (Heaton, Amoateng & Dufur, n.d.)
Daniel Francois Malan
The President of South Africa in 1948, he believed in white supremacy. To justify why he and the national party decided to create Apartheid system, he said ‘The policy of racial segregation is based on Christian principles of what is fair and reasonable. Its goal is the maintenance and protection of the European population of the country as a pure white race and the maintenance and protection of racial groups as indigenous communities in their own separate areas, or follow the course of equality, which in the end will mean the suicide of the white race, or take the course of segregation’ (2013).