People’s Education for People’s Power was a not only a popular slogan heard during the sass’s in South Africa. It was also an idea for an education system for South Africa in the chaotic time of the asses when Apartheid was dying and a new government was not yet born. This Ideal education was to be carried into the post- Apartheid South Africa with all its democratic ideologies to not only educate the populace but also to give them the power In all spheres of life. However, People’s Education seems to have died a quiet death in the aftermath of Apartheid.
In this paper I will examine the origin, key features and reasons why PeopleS Education is not practiced in South Africa. The origin of People’s Education Is a result of the uses education crisis in South Africa. The education crisis had reached such chaotic proportions by 1985 that there was a desperate need to evaluate South Africans current education system and what was going to be implemented post-Apartheid. South Africa was already facing a decade of student boycotts when the idea of People’s Education was established. The student boycotts which started in 1976 tit the rejection of Bantu education continued for the next decade with students rejecting all attempts of reform by the state at the time. All the states reforms were an attempt to maintain control over schools and students. It was no way an actual reform to appease the dissatisfied student populace of South Africa. 2 As a result students continued the boycotts. The students continued boycotts also opened a door to allow boycotts for various other causes such as work, transport and rent.
By 1986 the state’s response to the continuous boycotts was declare a state of emergency. Students continued the boycotts. However, in 1985 students boycotted under the slogan “Liberation Now, Education Later” showing their willingness to sacrifice their education to see the end of Apartheid. This desperation to see the end of Apartheid by students led to a loss of control of schools by the state and the very students that were fighting for their education. This situation gave rise to problems between parents, teachers, communities and students.
As a result the Sweet Parent’s Crisis Committee was formed in 1986. They planned to negotiate with the Department of Education and Training In an attempt to meet some of the demands he students were tabling. 3 In turn this initiative led to the call for a national consultative conference to address the education crisis. 4 At this point there was a definite need for something to be done about the education crisis in South Africa. Students could not be allowed to neglect their education to fight Apartheid to the end.
People were questioning If it was wise to allow students that were to play a role in society post-Apartheid to then not be able to fulfill that roles as a result of a lack of education. The Sweet Parent’s Crisis Committee started their campaign for valuation of the education crisis by sending a delegation to consult the African National congress In Lusaka. At the mum the African National congress was banned and In exile. The African National Congress was firm in their belief that students must complete their education although they were fighting for the end of the struggle.
It was In the wake of this that “People Educations for People’s Power” was formulated. This educational idea which was more seen as process was to be the t Off new Loretta In wanly coeducation In south Track was to De moved. I en Notational Consultative Conference was to be the vehicle to drive this idea and later the National Education Crisis Committee was established to further drive it. 5 This was the climate in which People Education was formulated, the immediate need to end the boycotts and continue the education of students but also with forward looking intent of education for a post-Apartheid South Africa.
In order to peg this idea of People’s Education two conferences were called. At these conferences it was outlined what People’s Education was and what it was aiming towards. The most important things People’s Education was that it was not Apartheid Education. It was a complete move away from all forms of Apartheid Education. People’s Education was also not an attempt to establish alternative schools which had already failed previously. 6 People’s Education was an alternative education programmer. People’s Education aimed to transform education all over South Africa and not Just in certain school.
The People’s Education resolution provided a framework for teachers, parents and students to work towards a new programmer of education in which all parties were actively involved. 7 The features of People’s Education which was formulated and set UT at the two conferences in 1985 and 1986 was based on a variety of things which would lead parents, teachers and students forward. People’s Education rejected first and foremost rejected Apartheid education. It did not reject Apartheid Education in favor of the current white education of the time which it viewed as “education for domination”8.
Education for white elite of South Africa did not advance all South Africans and therefore was rejected. People’s Education wanted a programmer of education that was beneficial for the majority of population of South Africa and it was n the interest of this majority and not an elite minority. It was an education programmer for the people and created by the people. However, a feature of People’s Education is that it also acknowledges the inextricable link between education, politics, economics and social structures.
People’s Education saw there was no way in which education could be transformed without the change in the governance and social structures of South Africa. The conference adopted the idea Paolo Fire that no education system is neutral, all education systems have a social and political agenda which drives tit. As a result, People’s Education is not only an educational strategy but also a political strategy that aims to mobiles and organizes people for a non-racial democratic South Africa. A non-racial democratic South Africa that would need an alternative education programmer.
In order to make this work People’s Education drove people to organizes themselves to take control of all sectors of their lives through formation of organization in which alliances could be established between people. In this was People’s Education was not only for school-based education but also for tertiary education and other forms education in South Africa. People’s Education featured the ideologies of instilling democratic values in schools and students in order to oppose the values of Apartheid.
It aimed to stimulated critical thinking and creativity in students to equip them for the future democratic South Africa in which they would have to actively participate in. Therefore education practices implemented by teachers needed to be based on the principles of People’s Education. In this way People’s Education was a process which would only be fully realized with the abolition of Apartheid and participation of the people. People’s education was not seen as a curriculum out as gleefulness to eventually create a curriculum.
When the formal negotiations between the NC and NP began in 1990 to abolish Apartheid it was the first face-to-face meeting of the Freedom Fighters and the pro-Apartheid government. In the ensuing talks regarding education in South Africa it seems that the aims and goals of People’s Education was somewhat diluted in the resultant education system that was formulated. First and foremost up to 1990 it had been the National Education Crisis Committee that had been negotiating the education crisis in South Africa. However, as soon as the NC was unbranded the NECK tool step back and it was the NC that drove all negotiations regarding education.
The NECK was concerned with rebuilding the NC and keeping its own agendas separately, but not actively participating in negotiations about its agendas. The National Education and Training Forum were formed in 1993. Compromising of stakeholders in the education sector which were associates from the National Party circles, businesses, independent homelands, tertiary institutions, church organizations, No’s and parent organizations. Many of these stakeholders allegiance and history was not with the democratic government 1.
This group favored the interest of business and government and not the people as encapsulated in the ideas of People’s Education. During all the negotiations and talks regarding post-Apartheid South African education the ideas formed moved away from People’s Education’s focus on social engagement and demonstrating power relations. The emphasis of talks was on cost effectiveness, economic competitiveness, performance and outcomes. People’s Education was formulated with brilliant enigmatic ideals in a time when education in South Africa was in crisis.
The ideas and aims of People’s Education were noble, but because it lacked a full education curriculum and only ideas it was not implemented in post-Apartheid education. Also the people that formulated this system were not the people to negotiate for it during the education talks. The final decision makers about South Africans education were people that had economic and social interests. We see some of the ideals of People’s Education the current Education Policy of South Africa, but its diluted versions that still speak to a capitalist society.
