Widespread school boycotts in the Western Cape and in the Transvaal, as well as more isolated educational protests in other areas, occurred during the first half of 1988. Most of the protests took place after the February clampdown which severely restricted the activities of five youth organisations.
Although student and pupil organisations largely escaped government restrictions on their activities, they have felt the effect of repressive action. This was acknowledged by the National Students' Co-ordinating Congress (NASCOC) at its conference in February. NASCOC was set up as an interim co-ordinating committee in October 1986 when the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) failed to get its banning lifted through the courts.
Speakers at the NASCOC conference highlighted the need to rebuild structures and to train a new generation of leaders since 'half the student leadership [had] been forced into exile, expelled from schools, detained or completed studies'. A significant development to emerge from the conference was that for the first time since the banning of COSAS in August 1985, school pupils felt sufficiently organised to consider launching a new national body.
An indication of the level of organisation amongst students has been the number and the strength of school boycotts. Protests centred largely on the effect of the State of Emergency on education, although students also mobilised around broader issues, such as the Sharpeville Six and the February clampdown. Among the grievances articulated were:
- The detention of both students and teachers.
- The presence of the police on school premises. This was aggravated in April when police forced their way into school premises in Mitchells Plain and used teargas to break up a rally in support of the Sharpeville Six.
- Admission procedures, including refusal to re-admit ex-detainees and the compulsory signing of undertakings of good behaviour by parents and pupils. Students also demanded the registration of some 1,500 pupils who were refused entry for 1988 because of alleged late registration. Linked to this is a demand for the abolition of the identity card system. With all students required to carry an identity card many regard both the complicated registration procedures and the card system as tactics designed to prevent student leaders and ex-detainees completing their education.
- The chronic lack of facilities. In addition pupils have been asked to pay increased fees to cover the cost of damage to school premises.
- The suspension of teachers for politically related reasons.
Unlike the prolonged boycotts of 1985-86, student groups are now calling limited stay-aways. For example, a one-day boycott protesting about the shortage of textbooks, the presence of police and the suspension of teachers, called by the Western Cape Students' Congress in April, was answered by 90,000 students (90 per cent of students in the region). In May six Dieploof school were closed for two days when a class boycott was called following the detention of a number of pupils.
Another notable feature of the student protests has been the involvement of teachers who have both initiated militant action and responded to calls made by their students. Activists commented that this kind of solidarity would strengthen educational protests and make it more difficult for the government to bring them to an end.
