During Apartheid in South Africa, education was a primary tool of maintaining and legitimizing race-based inequalities. The education system in South Africa strongly reflected the policies of segregation and ideologies of white supremacy that so entrenched society. In 1996, the South African Schools Act desegregated schools and claimed to provide equal funding to all public schools, therefore dismantling Apartheid education. With this act, Apartheid education was “officially” over, yet racial and class-based inequalities continue to persist in the modern South African school system. Throughout our research trip to King Williams Town, South Africa, our team focused on how these inequalities play out through curriculum.
Although there is technically one, nation-wide curriculum in South Africa, it is not implemented equally. Schools throughout the Eastern Cape actually do not have the same curriculum that formerly all-white schools may have. Through our interviews with students, teachers, and administrators within a variety of schools around King Williams Town, we have found that the availability of resources and students’ socio-economic status are the primary factors in this unequal implementation of curriculum. To find out more about the findings of our research, please listen to our podcast posted below:
Podcast: The Struggle for an Equitable Curriculum
Pictures
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- The Steve Biko Library at the Steve Biko Center
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- Teachers at Dale College
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- Students at ZK Matthews High School
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- Deputy and Principal at ZK Matthews High School
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- Students and Professor Bair at Dale College
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- Students at Bisho High School
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- Transcribing at the Steve Biko Centre with Vuyo
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- Working at the Steve Biko Centre
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- Interviewing students at Bisho High School
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- Visiting a museum in King William’s Town
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- The mosaic research team at our guest house in Johannesburg
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- At the beach!
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- Setting up for an interview
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- King William’s Town
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- Steve Biko’s House
Transcriptions
ZK Matthews Deputy Interview Transcript
Kholiswa Ntlokonkulu History Teacher Interview Transcript
Dale College Teachers Interview Transcript
Bisho Students Interview Transcript
Bibliography
Clark, Nancy L. and William H. Worger, South Africa: The Rise and Fall of Apartheid, Second Edition, (Harlow: Pearson Education, 2011).
Grant, Laura. “How do South Africa’s Children Travel to School?” Mail & Guardian, July 22, 2014. http://mg.co.za/data/2014-07-22-how-do-south-africas-children-travel-to-school (accessed October 14, 2015).
Ndimande, Bekisizwe S. “From Bantu Education to the Fight for Socially Just Education, Equity & Excellence in Education 46 (2013): 20-35.
Ngcauzele, Camva. Interview by Patti Kotrady. Personal interview. Bisho High School, August 19, 2015.
Ntlokonkulu, Kholiswa. Interview by Patti Kotrady. Personal interview. Steve Biko Center, August 20, 2015.
Teachers at Dale College Boy’s School. Interview by Elizabeth Lowe. Personal Interview. Dale College Boy’s School, August 21, 2015.
Uzulani. Interview by Ikram Rabbani. Personal interview. Z.K. Matthews High School, August 20, 2015.
Zangqu, Athi. Interview by Patti Kotrady. Personal interview. Bisho High School, August 19, 2015.
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