Commemorating the Young Lions and Lionesses of June 16, 1976.
As a country, as a generation and as a youth of today we dare not forget the sacrifices of the previous generations. No sacrifice is bigger than one’s life itself. They unselfishly gave their lives so we can selfishly live ours. They were fearless in a time when many of us would have hidden. They spoke and paid the ultimate price.
The 1976 struggle has gone down in history as a struggle against a specific aspect of the education system. The popular consensus is that the youth of the day revolted against Bantu education in general and Afrikaans as a language system in the education curriculum in particular. The Historical record is silent on the pertinent issue, the issue of what the Afrikaans language in the education curriculum would have been replaced with.
There have been calls that perhaps the liberation government has failed and continue to fail to the youth of today in the very same field of education. The liberation government in 15 years of democracy has not addressed the issue of African indigenous languages in the education curriculum. This is against the backdrop of studies suggesting that mother tongue language can go a long way in addressing the difficulties faced by African students in the fields of Science, Math and Technology. Young people of today, if the youth of ’76 lost their lives for the right not to be taught in a language they disagreed with, do not we owe it to our selves to address the deficiencies in Science, Math and Technology by invoking our African languages? The Afrikaans students did it in all subjects and today Science, Math and Technology is no longer an issue.
The ’76 youth dreamt and dreamt unselfish dreams where the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people is the only real measure of right and wrong as Bentham would argue. Today we dream but our dreams are beyond selfish. It is all about the individual never about the community or others. This is spiraled by the need for certification over the need for knowledge. The ’76 youth learned for the sake of education, information and knowledge. It was this education, information and knowledge that propelled them to realize the problems inherent in the status aqua of the education system of the day.
As we commemorate their lives let us dream unselfish dreams too. Let us learn for the sake of education, information and knowledge. Let us realize that the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people is the only real measure of what is right and wrong. Youth of today, the youth of ’76 clearly demonstrated that it is true that every generation has its mission, but what is our mission today?
Thulani Nkosi
Co-head Education Cluster and Chairperson at UBPA, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
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