Students in Soweto came under heavy pressure from the authorities to end their boycott at the start of the new term at the end of January. The Department of Education and Training (formerly Bantu Education) decided to re-open some of the 40 schools it took over in September and require advance registration from pupils. When junior schools re-opened in 17 January, attendance was less than 50% and there were reports of police conducting house-to-house searches to round up pupils, using sjamboks. When the secondary term began on 31 January only 13 out of the 40 state schools were open and most had only a handful of pupils. Outside the closed Mahlobo school in Meadowlands, the Soweto Students League led a demonstration by burning thousands of school application forms, urging students to continue the boycott. In the Pretoria area there were clashes over the return to school.
By the second week of term more schools were open and attendance was reported to be increasing. Police patrols were present at most schools; the chairman of the Soweto Action Committee said this was 'subjecting children to an environment of intimidation in the name of education'. He called on police to withdraw and on the authorities to abolish the Bantu Education system altogether. Registration was still open in mid-February, indicating that large number of pupils were still refusing to return.
