The commemoration of Youth Day this year marked the 37th anniversary of the 16 June Soweto uprising and was celebrated under the theme “Working together for youth development and a drug free South Africa”.
When the then-Bantu Education Department ordered that Afrikaans and English be used equally in secondary schools as the language of instruction, protests in African schools broke out in 1975. The problem, though, wasn't really with Afrikaans so much as it was with the entire Bantu educational system, which was defined by segregated schools and universities, subpar infrastructure, crammed classrooms, and poorly qualified professors.
37 years later, we continue to struggle for basic education and decent learning facilities in rural areas and in many townships
Run-down schools, with badly kept buildings, defective and unsanitary sanitary facilities, and a lack of essential equipment and learning materials, do not provide a suitable learning the environment. This has long been a problem for South African learners and the Department of Basic Education.
Not to say there hasn’t been progress however lack of basic education is a big deal and it is stifling South Africa’s future and basic education is a right
How long should it take just to have proper learning facilities all around South Africa? How much longer? Is the government doing it’s job?
Guest: Aasif Bulbulia is a post-graduate student at Stellenbosch University, studying towards a Master’s in Education Policy Studies. He holds a Bachelor of Education from the University of the Witwatersrand as well as a BA(Honours) in the Study of Islam from the University of Johannesburg.