The history of Bantu education: 1948-1994

This thesis is a critical analysis of the history of Bantu education under apartheid. Bantu Education was implemented by the South African apartheid government as part of its general policy of separation and stratification of the races in society. This research, using historicalcomparative methodology, examines the role of ideology in education and the state, the shifts in ideology and representations of schooling – designed to train and fit Africans for their role in the evolving apartheid society. In this thesis it is argued that Bantu Education was a segregated system of schooling for lowskilled occupation and domestication. This research examines the nexus between African Education and the social production process during this period. References will be made to the evolution of African education from 1948 to 1994, in order to give a clear background of Native Education, under apartheid. The thesis analyses the way the Bantu Education policy directly affected the school curriculum, and access to schooling, in order to reinforce racial inequalities and social stratification. The Apartheid regime advocated that native education should be based on the principle of trusteeship, non-equality, and segregation. The aim of the Bantu Education policy was to inculcate the white man’s view of life, especially that of the Boer nation (Afrikaners), which was the senior trustee. This research project demonstrates that the outcomes of Bantu Education hampered South Africa’s cultural, economic and scientific progress.