REVIEW: THE EDUCATION STRUGGLE
During the first five months of 1985 the boycott of black schools remained at a high level with pupils staying away in many new areas previously unaffected by this form of protest. The current wave of boycotts has carried over from the latter part of last year when more black pupils were staying away from classes than at any time since the nationwide boycotts of 1980.
In the early part of 1984 student demands concentrated on educational issues. From August 1984 onwards, however, issues not directly related to education started to be articulated. Increasingly protests were made about economic and political issues raised by the black community in general: rising living costs, the new constitutional dispensation, the withdrawal of police and soldiers from the townships and the resignation of community councillors.
The linking of educational and political issues is not a new feature of protests in black schools. Since 1976 pupils and students have increasingly linked educational demands to those of the broader community. The latter part of 1984, however, marked a distinct change in that student organisations gave even greater emphasis to the achievement of broader community demands.
SCHOOL PROTESTS
The major issues of protest in schools from the beginning of 1984 and prior to the elections in August, were the refusal by school authorities to introduce students' representative councils (SRCs) to replace the prefect system, the imposition of age-limit restrictions, improper corporal punishment regulations and sexual harassment of female pupils by teachers.
In August 1984 the Coloured and Indian elections for the new segregated parliament stimulated further boycotts. During and following the week of the elections as many as 650,000 pupils were out.
Early in September 1984, the announcement of intended rent increases in the Vaal Triangle and East Rand resulted in extensive protests by residents, including a major school boycott. Initially some 140,000 African pupils came out. The early closing of schools for the September holidays in the Transvaal failed to end the boycott and by October 220,000 pupils were out of classes.
After two months of protests, the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) called a meeting of community organisations and trade unions. A set of economic, political and educational demands were drawn up and a call issued for a two-day stayaway on 5 and 6 November in support of these demands. During the stayaway, supported by 500,000 workers, 621 schools in black townships were empty and 400,000 students boycotted classes. After the stayaway the boycott remained at a high level in the Transvaal and spread to many areas in the Eastern Cape. In an attempt to contain the situation the Department of Education and Training (DET) closed many schools.
Schools reopened on 9 January 1985 after the summer holidays. Pupils made a tactical return to school on the East Rand and in the Vaal Triangle, conditional on demands put the previous year being satisfactorily met. Widespread dissension over the decision to return was evident. By the second week of January most schools were again empty, with boycotts centred on the Vaal Triangle and East Rand as well as the Eastern Cape.
At New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, scholars supported by their parents resolved at a series of meetings to continue the boycott until 11 detained COSAS leaders were released. In mid-January school boycotts on a significant scale spread to the OFS for the first time in the current wave of protests.
In February boycotts spread to new areas in Natal and the Transvaal. By the end of the third week over 70,000 pupils countrywide were out of classes, with the major concentrations on the East Rand and the Eastern Cape. Classes were suspended in many areas. The boycotts were restricted to African schools until the end of February when pupils at a number of Coloured schools in Port Elizabeth came out in solidarity with African pupils in Uitenhage whose schools had been closed.
Boycotts continued during March and April, the initiating cause in several new instances being the detention and expulsion of pupils. The release from detention of fellow students became a major demand of the pupils. All seven African secondary schools in Cradock were closed on 16 March in an attempt by the authorities to end the total school boycott which had been in operation there for 15 months.
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
The government responded to the boycotts toward the end of last year by appearing to concede to some student demands. In October it announced that democratically elected SRCs would be allowed, the age-limit regulations would be withdrawn and that staff members who did not abide by the rules controlling corporal punishment would be dealt with severely. The SRCs offered by the government were rejected by pupils as the DET had drawn up a constitution for their operation without consultation with student organisations.
These apparent concessions were accompanied by the banning of all indoor meetings dealing with boycotts of schools and universities for a year and increased repression against student and youth leaders. Many COSAS and Azanian Students' Movement leaders and members have been detained and several are facing trials arising out of protests and boycotts.
A number of government statements have been made since March concerning the situation in African schools. The Minister of Home Affairs and National Education (white education) announced in Parliament on 11 March that the government was considering legislation which he claimed would bring the government 'much closer to its goal of equal standards of education' for all. The statement was made amid calls for the institution of a single education department for all.
The Minister responsible for African education said in May that if the government met the 'reasonable political aspirations of the black community' political organisations would not be able to 'misuse black school-children for their own political ends'. He acknowledged widespread shortcomings in the system of education for Africans and that reforms in education had to be accompanied by political reforms. He emphasised, however, that he would not tolerate attempts by students to prescribe to the DET and accused student organisations of implementing 'politically inspired boycotts and demonstrations'.
Education for Coloureds, Indians and Whites became 'own affairs' under the new constitution and separate education departments under the control of each of the three parliaments were established. African education became a 'general affair'. Referring to calls for a single education department for all groups, Gerrit Viljoen said it was government policy to create a co-ordinating department of education to determine general education policy on a national level. 'Corrective steps' which he said would be taken include increasing the number of African teachers and decision makers, a large increase in expenditure and bringing down the failure rate of African pupils.
STUDENTS' AND PARENTS' RESPONSE
Student leaders have attributed the sustained turmoil in African schools chiefly to the absence of democratically elected SRCs. The DET responded to the impasse on this issue by inviting the community to submit recommendations for improving the SRC constitution it had earlier drawn up and by declaring a suspension of its SRC and prefect system while it considered these suggestions. A comprehensive memorandum was submitted to the Minister of Co-operation and Development and Education by an ad hoc National Committee of Parents' Committees but by May the DET had failed to respond to the suggestions. Student leaders have accused the DET of applying 'delaying tactics' by closing schools instead of responding to student demands and by continuing to enforce its own SRC and prefect system in a number of areas, provoking further boycotts.
In April, the parents' National Committee in conjunction with students' representatives, urged schools to implement the constitution drawn up by them without permission from the DET. The reasons given for taking this stand were that the DET had failed to respond to the suggestions it had put forward; SRCs would lessen the unrest by providing pupils with leadership; the African Teachers' Association had aligned itself with pupils' demands by accepting the draft constitution; security police had continued to harass parent committee members; the call for the release of detained students had been ignored; and the DET had failed to reinstate sacked teachers.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Black colleges and universities responded during the past year to many of the same issues as African secondary schools. During the Coloured and Indian elections in August 1984 thousands of students at all the major universities and colleges boycotted classes. Students also responded to the general protests that followed the inauguration of the new parliament in September by refusing to attend classes.
Students at the University of the Western Cape boycotted classes in March to demand the expulsion of a member of staff who had allegedly disclosed to police the whereabouts of students hiding from arrest during a demonstration in October 1984.
In April the University of the North was closed for two weeks after students held a demonstration demanding that white lecturers on strike return to the lecture rooms. In early May the entire student body at the University of Fort Hare boycotted lectures because of rumours that the graduation ceremony would be attended by the 'President' or other officials of the Ciskei bantustan administration.
