Black education in South Africa : the case of the Qadi Tribal Area, Inanda Reserve, Kwa Zulu.
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Date
1984
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Abstract
This thesis is concerned with formal education for black South Africans.
Central to the argument is an appreciation of how formal educational systems
tend to foster specific ideologies and reproduce particular social relations
which protect the interests of the state and those class interests which
are most closely reflected by it. This is demonstrated at a general level
with reference to colonial and post colonial education in Africa (Chapter 1)
before proceeding to the South African situation (Chapter 2).
In this context educational inequalities in South Africa have been systematically
entrenched by the Nationalist government following its accession
to power in 1948 in accordance with apartheid ideology and the perceived
needs of capital. Specifically education has been deployed to: a) help
maintain the proclaimed unique identity of the Afrikaner - and more generally
the white South African; b) to perpetuate the myth of white supremacy;
and c) to maintain and reproduce the social relations of racial capitalism.
As such, it is a form of discrimination and social control (now drawing an
organised and often violent black response) which aims to 'prepare' black
South Africans for distinct and inferior roles within society. This is
discussed in some depth drawing on both the 'liberal' and 'Marxist' interpretations.
Whereas the broad contours of the apartheid educational system have been
well sketched by a variety of authors, comparatively little attention to
date has been directed towards its impact on the micro level. In view of
this a detailed survey of the education that is available to the Qadi tribal
area of Kwa Zulu's Inanda Reserve was conducted by the author. This forms
the kernel of the thesis (Chapter 3). The survey focused on both 'in-school'
and 'in-community' factors to examine educational deprivation in the area.
Comparisons were also made with a neighbouring white area to illustrate the
depth of the inequalities that obtain under the apartheid framework. In
addition, an attempt was made to evaluate the potential for education related
unrest in the area by analysing pupils' aspirations and expectations.
The results of this survey highlight the urgent need for remedial action.
Consequently, Chapter 4 - taking note of the various recommendations of
inter alia the HSRC and Buthelezi Commissions - is devoted to a discussion
of possible interim measures for alleviating hardship in the educational
system. It is stressed that any attempt to adequately rectify inequality is dependent on structural change within the wider political economy.
Nevertheless, given that fundamental apartheid structures such as those
in education are unlikely to disintegrate in the immediate future, a
number of suggestions for improving black education within the present
context are considered.
Description
Thesis (M.Soc.Sci.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1984.
Keywords
Blacks--Education--KwaZulu-Natal--Inanda., Blacks--Education--South Africa., Theses--Development studies.