The June 16 Uprising dealt with an issue of great sociological interest, the curriculum. The curriculum is the content of schooling or what is learned in schools, but it goes beyond that as it has more significant consequences from both its socialising or de-socialising nature, depending on how it's constructed or how you look at it.
The events that triggered the June 16 Uprising can be traced back to policies of the apartheid government that resulted in the introduction of the bantu education act in 1953. The uprising profoundly changed the sociopolitical landscape in SA. Although we have made remarkable progress since 1994, the spectre of inequality, poverty, and youth unemployment remains one of the most glaring impediments to SA's goal of national unity and social cohesion.
But the question is: are we really free or our children free from the issues they marched against and sacrificed their lives for? A big No.
It is as if running from apartheid brutality was not enough. Children and youths still have to run from the hardships visited upon them under the democratic government, whether it is being forced to learn Afrikaans or study under trees or in dilapidated school structures.
The use of the word "forced" may appear very strong, but that's exactly the reality. The school subject choice dispensation does not allow them freedom not to choose Afrikaans.
The Uprising leaders Tsietsi Mashinini, Khotso Seatlholo and many others went to become household names for their charisma and ability but a great cost to themselves.
June 16 will come and go and there'll be nothing to show for it. There may be a debate in parliament but it will end there. With a society divided by poverty, where racism and sexism abound, where there is so much lacking and where hope is lost for many, one would have thought that every local government would have a focal point for young people.
Every city or township would have a youth worker to organise young people and bring out talent and local community centres would be buzzing with the creativity of the young.
Bushy Green, Kagiso
The youth still facing challenges their '76 peers faced
Image: ANTONIO MUCHAVE
The June 16 Uprising dealt with an issue of great sociological interest, the curriculum. The curriculum is the content of schooling or what is learned in schools, but it goes beyond that as it has more significant consequences from both its socialising or de-socialising nature, depending on how it's constructed or how you look at it.
The events that triggered the June 16 Uprising can be traced back to policies of the apartheid government that resulted in the introduction of the bantu education act in 1953. The uprising profoundly changed the sociopolitical landscape in SA. Although we have made remarkable progress since 1994, the spectre of inequality, poverty, and youth unemployment remains one of the most glaring impediments to SA's goal of national unity and social cohesion.
But the question is: are we really free or our children free from the issues they marched against and sacrificed their lives for? A big No.
It is as if running from apartheid brutality was not enough. Children and youths still have to run from the hardships visited upon them under the democratic government, whether it is being forced to learn Afrikaans or study under trees or in dilapidated school structures.
The use of the word "forced" may appear very strong, but that's exactly the reality. The school subject choice dispensation does not allow them freedom not to choose Afrikaans.
The Uprising leaders Tsietsi Mashinini, Khotso Seatlholo and many others went to become household names for their charisma and ability but a great cost to themselves.
June 16 will come and go and there'll be nothing to show for it. There may be a debate in parliament but it will end there. With a society divided by poverty, where racism and sexism abound, where there is so much lacking and where hope is lost for many, one would have thought that every local government would have a focal point for young people.
Every city or township would have a youth worker to organise young people and bring out talent and local community centres would be buzzing with the creativity of the young.
Bushy Green, Kagiso
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