Black education in South Africa : the case of the Qadi Tribal Area, Inanda Reserve, Kwa Zulu.

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.