Apartheid

Background to the Uprising:

On June 16th 1976 a group of black high school students started a protest over the imposition of a Afrikaans as the primary language instruction in township schools.By the end of that day 566 children were dead. Blacks did not receive equal education and rarely had any access to educational institutions. The few schools that did exist in Sowetu were poorly equipped, under staffed and blacks had no desire to obtain an education, due to the lack of opportunities that they would receive afterwards. There are many factors that lead up to the tragic events of June 16th 1976. One of these factors was The Bantu Education Act of 1953 which established a Black Education Department.

The Bantu (slang for black) Education Act was enacted in 1953 which established a black education department in the Department of Native Affairs. The role of this department's main objective was to construct a curriculum that suited the 'nature and requirements of black people.' The author of this legislation, Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd who was the Minister of Native affairs at the time, stated:'Natives(balcks) must be taught from an early age that equality with Europeans (whites) is not for them.' Black people were not to receive an education that would lead them to aspire to positions they would not be allowed to hold in society. Instead they were to receive education designed to provide them with skills that to serve their own people in the homelands or to work in labouring jobs under whites.

It is fair to assume that at this point black students all over the country were struggling to come to terms with their given education system. The situation was already volatile when the Afrikaans Medium Decree was instituted.