While the authorities claimed that they closed more than thirty schools because it was no longer possible to hold classes in them, the real reason appeared to be to disrupt student organisation and prevent alternative education from taking place.
When African schools reopened in the Transvaal for the fourth term on 10 September most secondary schools in Soweto were empty by noon. Thousands of students put in an appearance and then left in protest at the presence of soldiers and the detention of fellow students. Students said they would continue a three-day-a-week boycott adopted in the previous term.
The Department of Education and Training (DET) threatened to close Soweto schools if students failed to attend classes. The threat was given weight by the announcement on the previous day that more than 20 schools in the Eastern Cape would be closed until the end of the year. Further closures were threatened if the daily attendance dropped below 80 per cent. (S/Star 10.9.86; DD 10/11.9.86)
Thirteen more schools, including ten in Soweto, were closed on 15 September. Students at some schools forced the gates open but were later evicted by troops. The DET said that it had closed the schools because of continued disruption and poor attendance. As a result this had made effective education impossible. Staff members at some of the affected schools disputed the DET claims and maintained that attendances at other schools were worse. At a school where attendance was high, the headmaster claimed that it had been closed because of his involvement in the Soweto Parents Crisis Committee - a branch of the National Education Crisis Committee. At other schools where attendances had been good, the closures followed boycotts initiated after troops had been moved onto the premises. (S 16.9.86; WM 19.9.86)
Many schools had been closed during the third term after the DET issued new regulations for students and teachers in July and members of the SADF were stationed at schools to enforce them. The most contentious of these were the requirements for students to register and carry identification cards. Students at many schools refused to register and burnt their ID cards or boycotted classes.
By the middle of the third term more than 300,000 students were barred from attending classes because of their refusal to register and carry the ID cards. (FM 1.8.86)
In the middle of August students in Soweto started a three-day boycott every week, demanding that soldiers be removed from their schools. In the Eastern Cape boycotts were maintained at most secondary schools, resulting in the closure of 29 schools in the area by the end of August. (Star 22.8.86; WM 28.8.86)
An application challenging the compulsory registration of students was brought to court by the NECC, a body of concerned educationists and parents. The application claimed that the measure singled out African students for 'inequitable, unequal and unjust' treatment. The State responded that the NECC planned to replace the current education system with a 'people's education' system that would mobilise people to overthrow the state. The application was dismissed on 10 September. The court said that the NECC had no right to challenge the promulgation. (WM 8.8.86; DD 11.9.86)
On university campuses there have also been continuing protests by students and disruption by the authorities. Students at the University of the North were cut off from the outside world by soldiers and police on the campus in September. Students were not allowed to make or receive telephone calls and were issued with ID cards which they had to produce on demand. (WM 12.9.86)
The vice-chancellors of five universities issued a declaration on the national education crisis on 15 August, stating that South African universities could not carry out their proper function under the State of Emergency. It called for the end of the emergency, the release of detainees and the lifting of curbs on information. Twelve academics, including a number of those who signed the declaration, met for talks with the ANC in Lusaka, Zambia, on 15 and 16 September. (CT 28.8.86; BBC 17.8.86)
