DESEGREGATION IN A FORMER “WHITES ONLY” SCHOOL IN SOUTH
AFRICA
by
Nomalanga P. Grootboom

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfilment of the requirements
for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
K-12 EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION

2012

ABSTRACT
DESEGREGATION IN A FORMER “WHITES ONLY” SCHOOL IN SOUTH
AFRICA
By
Nomalanga P. Grootboom
After decades of racially segregated education under apartheid in South Africa, the
process of school desegregation commenced in 1990‘s with the view equalize education
for all, and fostering better relationships and making available equal opportunities for all
learners. The process of desegregation not has been without problems as it is apparent with
race related incidents of racial conflicts and tension in certain desegregated schools.
Despite the intentions of policy makers, educators, parents and the success of desegregated
schooling needs to be seen through the experience of learners in such schools.
This study examines cross racial interaction of learners in a formerly ―whites only‖
high school in South Africa and seeks to explore their day to day school life over a period
of six months. Data were obtained from several sources including interviews with
students, teachers, and administrators, focus group discussions, and observations. Key
findings from the study revealed critical factors that impact the educational experiences of
learners in this school, and how these can inform the process of educational change, as
well as serve as useful indicators for planning and decision making. Lessons learned from
this study provide an opportunity for further comparative studies with respect to the
diverse aspects of the teaching-learning for diverse and monoculture learner in different
settings

of

the

new

Post-Apartheid)

South

African

school

system.

Copyright by
NOMALANGA P. GROOTBOOM
2012

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to thank my committee members who were more than generous with their
expertise and precious time. A special thanks to Prof. Reitumetse Mabokela, my committee
chairman for her countless hours of reflecting, reading, encouraging, and most of all patience
throughout the entire process.
During my sad moments she encouraged and motivated me to finish. Her constant
words of encouragement were ―Fetsa Mmaetsho.‖ Thanks to you, Mogaetsho. Prof Dunbar,
Prof Jack Schwille, Prof P. Cusick for believing in me and serving in my dissertation
committee. I would also like to acknowledge and thank the Gauteng Education Department
for allowing m to conduct research in the schools. I would also thank the financial assistance
I received from a number of agencies and people. NRF and Compton, Oppenheimer
Memorial Trust for your financial assistance.
To the Macedonia Baptist Church in Eatonville, Florida; Pastor Barnes and the
Macedonia family for being there when I needed you, cheering all the way.
Finally, I would like to thank friends and Professors I met at MSU and other areas
who assisted me with this project. I want to particularly mention Dr L. Hennessy and his wife
Mary, for being my friends and helping me go through the difficult and challenging.
The excitement and willingness to provide feedback from my Chair and the
committee made the completion of this research an enjoyable experience. It has been a long
walk. Thank you all.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1........................................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 1
Definition of the Problem ........................................................................................................ 4
Research Question ................................................................................................................... 5
Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................................... 6
Dissertation Overview ............................................................................................................. 8
CHAPTER 2........................................................................................................................... 9
LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................ 9
The Bantu Education Act (1953) and the Implementation of Apartheid Education ............... 9
Post-Apartheid Education ...................................................................................................... 15
Transformational Initiatives in Post Apartheid South Africa ................................................ 18
School Desegregation as Transformation .............................................................................. 23
Comparisons to the American South ..................................................................................... 25
Race Relations in Desegregated Schools: Will the New System Reverse, Halt or Improve?30
Summary................................................................................................................................ 33
CHAPTER 3......................................................................................................................... 34
METHODS ............................................................................................................................ 34
Field Methods ........................................................................................................................ 34
Data Collection ...................................................................................................................... 35
Sample ................................................................................................................................... 36
Data Sources .......................................................................................................................... 37
Data Analysis......................................................................................................................... 38
CHAPTER 4......................................................................................................................... 40
KEY FINDINGS ................................................................................................................... 40
Part 1: Background and the Structure of the School ............................................................. 40
Part II: Narrative .................................................................................................................... 47
Ethnic Identity and Language Retention ............................................................................... 80
Lessons Learned .................................................................................................................... 82
Summary................................................................................................................................ 84
CHAPTER 5......................................................................................................................... 86
Discussion............................................................................................................................ 86
Resistance to transformational initiatives .............................................................................. 86
Classroom Instruction in Afrikaans and English classes: Comparison ................................. 88
Stereotyping………………………………………………………………………………. .. 88
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 89
Recommendations ................................................................................................................. 90
Future Research ..................................................................................................................... 91

APPENDIX A: ......................................................................................................................... 91
INTERVIEW PROTOCOL FOR STUDENTS ....................................................................... 93
v

APPENDIX B: ......................................................................................................................... 95
PROTOCOL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR ADMINISTRATORS ................................. 95
APPENDIX C: ......................................................................................................................... 96
CONSENT LETTER FOR STUDENTS ................................................................................. 96
APPENDIX D: ......................................................................................................................... 97
CONSENT LETTERS FOR ADMINISTRATORS ................................................................ 97
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................ 99

vii

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Historically, racial discrimination in South Africa manifested itself in many arenas,
including economic and labor practices, housing and residential patterns, regulation of social
structures, the criminal justice system and education. In particular, the educational arena was
a focal point of political contestation and social conflict between the government of South
Africa and a range of oppositional forces during the Apartheid1 Era (Cross, 1988).
Prior to the introduction of the Bantu Education Act 2(1953), colonialism in South
Africa‘s education system was rigidly enforced starting in 1948. This policy permeated the
South African education system for 40 years and caused intense conflict under the Apartheid
government, precipitated by educational inequalities. When the National Party3 came into
power and formulated what came to be known as the Christian National Education Policy
4

(CNE), the principles for CNE were very clear: ―We want no mixing of languages, no

1

Apartheid (Afrikaans pronunciation: [ɐˈpɐrtɦəit], separateness) was a system of legal racial
segregation enforced by the National Party government in South Africa between 1948 and
1994, under which the rights of the majority non-white inhabitants of South Africa were
curtailed and minority rule by white people was maintained.
2
The Bantu Education Act: Was a South African law which codified several aspects of the
apartheid system. Its major provision was enforced separation of races in all educational
institutions.
3 The National Party (Afrikaans: Nasionale Party) was the governing party of South Africa
from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994, and was disbanded in 2005. Its policies included
apartheid, the establishment of a republic, and the promotion of Afrikaner culture. Since 1994
the party has been involved in conservative politics but was dissolved and reunited into the
New National Party, which then merged with the African National Congress in 2005.
4
Christian National Education (CNE): Christian National Education supported the
National Party‘s program of apartheid by calling on educators to reinforce cultural diversity
and to rely on "mother-tongue" instruction in the first years of primary school. This
philosophy also espoused the idea that a person's social responsibilities and political
opportunities are defined, in large part, by that person's ethnic identity.
1

mixing of cultures, no mixing of religion and no mixing of races‖ (cited by Christie,
1985:1605).
One of CNE‘s major political goals was the creation of a segregated educational
system with separate schools for different cultural, ethnic, tribal, and linguistic groups
(Ntshoe, 2002). Ideological differences caused conflicts (e.g., the conflicts of mission vs.
state schools, Boer vs. British political power and Black vs. White) and these conflicts
produced the dynamics that led to the particular distribution of resources and ideas. These
resources and ideas have shaped the South African education system.
Ultimately, the government‘s justification for separate schools was contained in
CNE‘s ten principles (Kallaway, 2002, Cross, 1988), each dealing with specific aspects of
society. For example, the first three principles of this policy i) justified separate schools and
curricula, ii) separate living areas, and iii) restrictions on employment for Blacks. While this
policy is not the focus of this study, it did have long-term effects on the South African
education system, elements of which still persist in the current post-apartheid era.
The 1960s and early 1970s were characterized by intense political repression with the
banning of political parties and the imprisonment of leaders, including Nelson Mandela6 in
1963 (Dolby, 2001). In the 1980s, the apartheid system was challenged on multiple fronts,
largely by mass movements, such as the United Democratic Front (UDF)7 and the Congress

6

Nelson Mandela: the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative
democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the
leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC).
7

United Democratic Front (UDF): was one of the most important anti-apartheid
organizations of the 1980s. The non-racial coalition of about 400 civic, church, students',
workers' and other organizations (national, regional and local) was formed in 1983
2

of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)8. This widespread activism irretrievably altered
the South African political climate. The National Education Crisis Committee (NECC) was
formed during this period and it called for the establishment of ―people‘s education,‖ which
was to be a new, non-race-based system. (Kruss, 1988; Levin, 1991; Mashamba, 1990;
Sisulu, 1986; Wolpe, 1991).
The Bantu education system was designed by the architects of apartheid to control the
aspirations of Black South Africans and school them for subservience. The Bantu education
system and its initiative failed. South Africa became increasingly ungovernable and needed
systematic change (Dolby, 2001).
The 1990s ushered in a new political era characterized by the unbanning of political
parties, such as the African National Congress (ANC); the release of political prisoners,
notably Nelson Mandela; the shift of political power from the minority National party to a
democratically-elected government lead by the ANC. Since the change in government, there
has been a concerted effort to transform the education system from the one marred by racial,
gender and class inequities to a more equitable one (Mabokela, 2000). Since the first
democratic elections in 1994, a process of racial desegregation began in South African
schools. Given the historical experience of South Africa and other countries attempting
similar transformations, the expectation was that simply mixing students from different racial
groups in one school would result in racial conflict and violence unless the structures and
processes of schooling were changed at the same time (Harber, 2004). The potential for racial
conflict always exists in multicultural societies such as South Africa‘s, where widespread and
serious race-based incidents periodically occur (Vally, 1999).
8

Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) was established in 1985 following
unity talks between competing unions and federations. At its launch it represented less than
half a million workers organized in 33 unions, but saw rapid growth in its early years.
3

Although various social institutions have attempted to respond to racial prejudice and
conflict, effective interventions have not been designed to eliminate outbreaks of racial
conflict or obliterate the causes of racism (Vernay, 1990). Schools are particularly vulnerable
to this kind of conflict. Naidoo‘s study (1996) of 26 schools in Kwa-Zulu Natal suggests that
South African schools have done very little to respond to the changes required by
desegregation. There is a general attitude of ‗business as usual‘ and a failure to rethink the
basic purpose and structure of schools (Naidoo, 1996).
Definition of the Problem
There is a need to understand and respond to issues created by desegregation and
racial conflict at school level. One of the few studies available, entitled “Racism, racial
integration and desegregation in South African public secondary schools” was conducted by
the Human Rights Commission (Vally and Dalamba, 1999). This major national study, which
predominantely focused on the macro level, was a groundbreaking project on racism in South
African schools.
In post-apartheid South Africa, the government introduced legislation and policies
that aim at ensuring that the education system is open and accessible to all its citizens
irrespective of race. Statutory de-racialization in education has not guaranteed a smooth
passage towards the realization of successful desegregation processes and has left schools,
educators, parents, learners and communities to face many challenges. It will take much
more than a constitution and its legal stipulations on how desegregation should occur for the
process of desegregation to be successful.
Teachers in desegregated schools of South Africa have not received training on how
to handle diverse student populations. Black and White students have limited experience coexisting in the school system because of the history of segregation in South Africa. Given the

4

sporadic prejudice and consistent reports of racial conflict, complaints of a pervasive and
insidious racism are still evident (Naidoo, 1996).
The central legislative framework governing education in South Africa in the postapartheid era, the South African Schools Act (SASA) (1996), is transformative legislation
that has been seen as the beginning of a new chapter in school governance, organization and
funding (cited in Kgobe, 1996). The act established universal and free access to any school
by any South African child and specifically outlawed the practice of discrimination in any
(private or public) school. This act emphasized funding and governance of education
(Kallaway, 1997). Rather than looking at the legal framework established by the South
African School‘s Act (SASA), this study focuses on cross-racial interaction of learners in
newly desegregated schools.
Schools in South Africa are both sites of memory as well as sites for change. This is
because, as with many other facets of life during apartheid, South Africa‘s schools were
designed to express the entrenched exclusionary ideology, which informed school policies
and practices (Christie, 1985, cited in Dawson, 2003). In the present milieu of social
transformation in South Africa, schools have again become sites of social construction, this
time with the goal to systematize the process of desegregation. Despite numerous studies on
school desegregation in the United States, few conclusions have been drawn on beneficial
practices (Bennett, 1981: 161). This study will contribute significantly to our understanding
of opportunities and barriers in creating non-exclusionary and peaceful schools.
Research Question
The question central to this study is ―what are the cross-racial interactions among
Black and White learners‖ in a desegregated school in South Africa and how do these
learners engage and interact with each other and with their teachers within their schools?
Response patterns that emerged from these interactions demonstrated how schools inculcate
5

or achieve anti-racist education, and inform the development of policies and strategies that
address transformation in South African schools. Further, this study seeks to understand how
schools, teachers, and administrators engage and interact with diverse learners.
Theoretical Framework
This study is informed by Critical Race Theory (CRT)9, which emphasizes the
socially constructed nature of race, and opposes the continuation of all forms of subordination
(Degaldoa and Stefancic, 2001). This line of inquiry emerges from a branch of critical legal
studies concerned with issues of racism, racial subordination and discrimination. The notions
of the social construction of race and discrimination are present in the writings of such
established critical race theorists as Derrick Bell (1980), Mari Matsuda (1980), Richard
Delgado (1995, 2001), Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw (1995), Gloria Ladson-Billings (1994,
2005), Neil Gotanda (1995), and William Tate (1997). Newly emerging CRT scholars
include Adrienne Dixson (2006), Celia Rousseau (2006), and Tameka Chapman (2002).
Other pioneers in sociology, include W.E.B. Dubois (1903) and Max Weber (in Tate, 1997).
CRT seeks to transform the relationships among race, racism and power (Delgado, 2001). It
is a framework that can be used to theorize, examine and challenge the ways in which race
and racism implicitly impact social structures, practices and discourses. CRT analyzes racial
injustices and seeks to understand them.
According to Glesne (2006), race is socially constructed, complex and ever changing.
For example, in South Africa and the United States, Black children are constructed as inferior
so as not to threaten the balance of power and privilege in society. Certainly, South Africa
has experienced a horrendous history of racism and other forms of subordination. In this

9

Critical race theory (CRT) is an academic discipline focused upon the application of
critical theory, a critical examination of society and culture, to the intersection of race, law,
and power.
6

study, CRT can be used as a lens through which to understand the experiences of students in
the South African education system.
Initially, CRT focused on the slow pace and unrealized promise of civil rights
legislation in the United States. As a result, many of the critiques launched were articulated in
Black and White racial terms only. Other scholars challenged the tendency towards the Black
and White binary of CRT (Yosso, 2005). As a result of these critiques, CRT expanded to
become the voice of these various groups and move beyond the Black and White binary.
Cross and Chisholm (1990) observed that the ―racist attitude and differential
schooling for Black and White have been a integral part of South African history since the
beginning occupation and domination of the territory‘‘(p. 44). Thus, the attitude towards race
and differential schooling in South Africa requires attention. CRT offers a useful framework
through which to understand school desegregation efforts in South Africa as well as in the
United States.
The voice component of CRT provides a way to communicate the experience and
realities of the oppressed--a first step in understanding the complexities of racism and in
beginning the process of judicial redress. The voices of South African learners must be heard
for a deeper or understanding of the desegregated environment. CRT acknowledges racism
in its history and social context and assists us to listen to the voices of both Black and White
learners. Cross-racial interactions among South African learners in a desegregated school
environment can be measured through the CRT lens providing understanding of the
complexities of race and racism in the changes that occur in a desegregating school.
This study examines racism, racial integration, and desegregation in South African
public secondary schools. It makes observations at the individual learner level to report on
cross-racial interactions among South African learners. It has as its foundation the concept of
desegregation, where proponents‘ arguments are based on CRT the idea that many
7

interactions based on language, identity, gender, and race can be a form of marginalization.
Marginalized individuals rarely have voice and are lost at the margins. To hear those voices
(speaking in Afrikaans, English, and many native South African tongues, from Black, White
and Colored children and teachers, from boys, girls, men and women) is to give witness to
the South African experience today.
This study applies CRT to a new context and uses qualitative methods to inform
policy and practice and help the government to improve planning, organization, and control
of desegregation in accordance with policies and the guidelines lay down by the South
African Constitution, the Human Rights Commission, and the South African Schools Act
(1996).
Dissertation Overview
Chapter two provides a review of prior research and related literature on
desegregation in a former White school in the South African context. It provides a theoretical
framework for looking at cross-racial interaction in a desegregated environment through the
lens of CRT.
Chapter three outlines the methodological procedures, design and data analysis
carried out in the study. This method emphasizes interviews, careful study of documents and
observation that help to illuminate the phenomenon being studied.
Chapter four presents the results of the study, where voices of learners and the
teachers are presented to answer the research questions.
Chapter five summarizes the results of the study, draws conclusions, and provides
recommendations for promoting cross racial interaction in the school to promote and create a
peaceful reconciliatory school.

8

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter offers an historical overview of the Apartheid10 education system and the
policies, trends and practices in transitional South African schools and key events that
affected education in South Africa from the 1950s to the present. This overview provides a
contextual understanding.
The Bantu Education Act (1953) and the Implementation of Apartheid Education
Upon assuming leadership in 1948, the National Party (NP) government of South
Africa‘s White minority played a decisive role in the development of the education system in
South Africa. With its doctrine of Apartheid, the NP introduced a plethora of laws that
systematically entrenched racial segregation at all levels of society (Kallaway, 2002; Naidoo,
1996; Mabokela, 2000). The Bantu Education Department was a governmental department
created to be responsible for the education of Blacks during the Apartheid years.
The approach towards education was that Blacks had a different culture, separate
from that of the Whites, and that they had to be educated accordingly. Black education
initially had a strong missionary presence, especially in the rural areas, and there was much
good-will among inspectors and teachers of different races. However, the rigid way in which
the policy was applied eventually led to much discontent and hardship. The Apartheid system
created educational inequalities through overt racist policies (Christie, 1985). Earlier, in the
nineteenth century, there was explicit differentiation through color lines. The first official
racial categories emerged in the 1904 census when a distinction was made between ―Whites,
Bantus and Coloreds.‖ The category Colored identified an intermediate group of people who
acted as a buffer between the Whites and the Africans (Mabokela, 2000).

10

Apartheid: Meaning 'apartness' in Afrikaans. A term adopted by the National Party in its
successful 1948 elections bid to rule South Africa.
9

A formal policy regarding education of Blacks was introduced by the National Party
called the Bantu Education Act (1953). The Bantu Education Act ensured that Blacks
received an education that would limit their educational potential and keep them in the
working class (Cross, 1988; Naidoo, 1996). This policy directly affected the content of
education by preventing access to courses (subjects11) that required high cognitive learning
that could lead to college-level entry, particularly for Blacks12. The Bantu Education Act13
made it possible for schools in the Apartheid era to perpetuate inequality that affected the
educational potential of Black students. School attendance was compulsory for Whites from
ages seven to sixteen: for Asians and Coloreds from seven to fifteen, and for Blacks from
ages seven to thirteen.
The less education students received, the fewer choices they had in the world of work
and in their access to higher education. Tracking or streamlining Black students into manual
labor-oriented learning was a deeply entrenched practice in the South African education
system. This practice was to ensure the relegation of Black students to the lower ends of
education and the social structure. The goal of Bantu Education was to prepare Black South
Africans who received it to occupy positions of the working class exclusively (Hyslop, 1988).

11

Subjects: Learning areas (classes) in South African schools.
Blacks: The term black, used as a racial identifier, refers to people of African ancestry in
both South Africa and the United States.
13
Bantu Education Act of 1953 (No. 47) was a South African law which codified several
aspects of the apartheid system. Its major provision was enforced separation of races in all
educational institutions. Even universities were made 'tribal', and all but three Missionary
schools chose to close down when the government no longer would subsidize their schools.
Only Roman Catholics, the Seventh-Day Adventists, the Congregationalists (The American
Board) & the United Jewish Reform Congregation continued using their own finances to
support education for native Africans. In 1959 this type of education was extended to "non
white" Universities and Colleges with the Extension of University Education Act, and the
internationally prestigious University College of Fort Hare was taken over by the government
and degraded to being part of the Bantu education system
10
12

The Bantu Education Act created separate departments of education by race. It
allocated less money to Black schools while giving most to Whites (Cross 1988; Christie,
1985; Naidoo, 1996). Since funding determines the amount and quality of learning materials,
facilities, and teachers, this disproportionate funding clearly created disparities in learning
environments (Cross, 1988). For instance, apartheid funding resulted in a teacher pupil ratio
of 1:18 in White schools, 1:24 in Asian schools, 1:27 in Colored schools, and 1:39 in Black
schools (US Library of Congress, 2004). Of the teachers in White schools, 96% had teaching
certificates, while only 15% of the teachers in Black schools held certificates (Garson, 2004;
Dolby, 2001).
As part of the overall fabric of politics and power, the policies of Apartheid education
initially attempted to build upon foundations that had been laid in the context of the
nineteenth-century Boer14 republic and resistance to British attempts to anglicize the country
after the Anglo-Boer war. During this time period, the system of Christian National
Education15, an early form of separatist education, was established. The Bantu Education Act
ultimately resulted in the closure of many learning institutions since it withdrew funding from
religious-affiliated schools that had been established during the Christian National Education
era. Since many church schools provided education for a large number of Blacks, Black
students were most negatively affected when these funds were withdrawn (US Library of
Congress, 2004). Although the government explained its actions under the premise of
separation of church and state, the elimination of funding for schools that served Blacks was
the ultimate form of educational injustice.

14

Boer: A farmer: A name given to a group of people of Dutch origin in South Africa.
Christian National Education: An education that promoted Afrikaner‘s culture, tradition
and language.
11
15

The Bantu Education Act functioned primarily to protect Whites from the threat of
competition from Blacks for skilled jobs. This action emerged because of the economic
expansion coupled with rural–urban migration during the Second World War. Secondly, it
was implemented to provide cheap, unskilled labor for White farmers (Cross, 1988). The
purpose of the Act was to implement Apartheid leader, Dr. Verwoerd‘s16 ideology in the
sphere of African education, as conveyed in his words:
There is no space for him (the Native) in the European Community above
certain forms of labor. For this reason, it is of no avail for him to receive
training which has its aim in the absorption of the European Community,
where he cannot be absorbed. Until now he has been subjected to a school
system which drew him away from his community and misled him by showing
him the greener pastures of European Society where he is not allowed to graze
(Soudien, Kallaway & Breier, 1999: 494)
Dr. Verwoerd‘s view was that the Afrikaner was a pure race that needed to maintain
its purity through racial segregation. In his address to Parliament, Dr. Verwoerd argued that,
through the Bantu Education Act, Blacks should never be given White privileges; rather, they
should always be kept apart. The role of the Apartheid education department was to compile
a curriculum that suited the "nature and requirements of the Black people."17 Black people

16

Verwoerd, HF (Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (8 September 1901 – 6 September 1966) was
Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 until his assassination in 1966. Verwoerd was born
in the Netherlands and immigrated at age two with his parents to South Africa. He served as
Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 until he was stabbed to death by an assassin in
1966.

12

were not to receive education that would lead them to aspire to positions that they would not
be allowed to hold in society. Instead, they were to receive education designed to provide
them with skills to serve their own people in the homelands or to work as laborers under
Whites.
Resistance by students was subdued throughout most of the 1960s by severe
government action against student leaders and political movements, only to resurface with
vehemence throughout the 1970s. The economic recession of the 1970s, the burgeoning
township populations, and the massive expansion of Black secondary school enrollments
under inadequate conditions contributed to the volatile atmosphere in the 1970s. This era saw
the emergence of active student opposition to Apartheid policies (Mabokela, 2000).
In 1975, South Africa entered a period of economic depression. Schools were starved
of funds. The government spent R644 ($107) a year on a White child's education but only
R42 ($6) on a Black child. The Department of Bantu Education lowered academic standards
on Black schools removing the final two years from primary schools. Previously, in order to
progress to secondary school, a pupil had to receive a first or second-class pass in Standard 6
(equivalent of Grade 8). The majority of pupils would proceed to secondary school, after they
completed this requirement.
In 1976, 257,505 pupils enrolled in Form 1, but there was space for only 38,000.
Therefore, for many Black students, their education ended effectively after primary school
because they could not access secondary school. Chaos ensued. When the Department of
Education issued a decree that Afrikaans was to become the language of instruction at school,
it implemented this policy into an already volatile situation. Black students objected to being
taught in what they perceived to be the language of the oppressor. Many Black teachers
themselves could not speak Afrikaans, yet they were now required to teach their subjects in
this language.
13

Resistance to the Bantu Education Act emerged most intensely in the 1970s. The act
gave way to a school boycott campaign coupled with the attempt to establish alternative
schools. Another crucial point of resistance to Bantu education came with the Soweto
uprising in 1976. Students objected to the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of
instruction for all subjects taught at school level. In 1978, the government responded by
changing the Department of Bantu Education to the Department of Education and Training.
There followed a period of educational reform that culminated in the Education and Training
Act of 1979 that replaced the Bantu Education Act of 1953 (Kallaway, 2002).
The policies and funding disparities in basic education included higher education as
well. Afrikaans18 language-based universities and English language-based universities
admitted only White students, while the other universities were divided along racial and
linguistic lines (US Library of Congress, 2004, Mabokela, 1997). Additionally, there was no
financial aid or banks to provide loans to Blacks or Coloreds (Knipe-Solomon, 2004). Thus,
even if students could break through working class education with under-qualified teachers in
overcrowded classrooms, they still faced financial barriers to achieving their academic goals.
Bantu education generally succeeded by limiting the educational advancement of Blacks and
giving them basic numeric and literacy skills.

18

The term Afrikaans describes people who speak Afrikaans, irrespective of ethnic origin,
instead of "Afrikaners", which refers to an ethnic group, or "Afrikaans precedes" (lit. people
that speak Afrikaans). Linguistic identity has not yet established that one term is favored
above another and all three tend to be used in common parlance. Geographically, the
Afrikaans language is the majority language of the western one-third of South Africa
(Northern and Western Cape, spoken at home by 69% and 58% of the residents of those two
provinces, respectively).
14

The African National Congress (ANC)19 had already recognized the importance of
the character and quality of post-Apartheid education for the development of the
disenfranchised millions of Black people. During this period, Nelson Mandela led a team of
thirty-five ANC delegates to negotiate with the state regarding the education crisis
(Chisholm, 1992:279).
Post-Apartheid Education
Since the apartheid era, many policy changes have occurred within the educational
system in an attempt to address educational inequalities. The Bantu Education Act legislation
had ensured that the amount and quality of education perpetuated social inequalities.
Changing those policies in a post-apartheid era was a logical step towards social equality.
Desegregation and integration has been mandated within the school system. Nine years of
formal education is compulsory for students of all races. Although the Bantu education
ideology was officially abandoned, schools remain organized under de facto segregation.20
Whites have moved to private schools, and suburban schools educate the majority of Colored
students. Township schools are overwhelmingly Black, and rural schools tend to teach Black
and Colored students (Knipe-Solomon, 2004).
There is a special emphasis on redressing educational inequalities among the
historically disadvantaged sectors of society, particularly the youth, the disabled, adults,
women, the unemployed, rural communities and Black people in general. Education is
supposed to be based upon the principles of cooperation, critical thinking, and civic

19

The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party, and has been
South Africa's governing party supported by a tripartite alliance between itself, the Congress
of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP)
since the establishment of majority rule in May 1994. Originally called the South African
Native National Congress until 1923, it was founded to increase the rights of all Africans.
20
de facto is a Latin expression that means "by [the] fact". In law, it is meant to mean "in
practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but without being
officially established"
15

responsibility: its goal is to empower individuals for participation in all aspects of society.
Nelson Mandela explained,
As we prepare for a democratic South Africa, education will remain a central
concern for us. It is therefore essential that we recognize this centrality and
develop both short- and long-term objectives to realize this goal. In the short
term we need to ensure that the immediate consequences of apartheid
education are urgently addressed (Mandela, 1992).
Mandela explained that eliminating overt racism in educational policies would be the
first step in challenging past practices. Moreover, he asserted that other social inequalities
needed to be addressed to minimize racial inequalities within education in the future. Cross
and Chisholm (1990, 44) state that the ―racist attitude and differential schooling for Black
and White have been an integral part of South African history since the beginning occupation
and domination of the territory‖. Thus, the attitude towards race and differential schooling are
deeply ingrained.
At the end of the 1980s, the old regime had begun to maneuver to prepare the
country's White public schools for the possibility of transition to a new democratic
government. As part of that process, the government asked parents to choose from three
alternative models of integration and school funding (i.e., Models A, B and C).21 South
African schools during this period were run by management boards. The Minister of

21

Models A, B and C: Model A- Private Schools, which were established after the closure of
state schools. Model B:-Private schools that wished to change their admissions policy to
accommodate Black Student. Model C - State-Aided schools that were formerly white-only
which now accommodate White, Black and Colored students.

16

Education, Piet Clase (Carrim, 1998:7) indicated that the choice of models would have
financial implications. Effectively, the new South African school model legislation placed
reforms and progress in White schools in the hands of White parents and White management
boards. In its most benign and egalitarian expression, the models could result in the
reconstitution of the school population along non-racial lines, which, according to
government, was the desired intention of the legislative change.
A vote for Model A schools would have made state schools completely private.
Model A schools, would have received a 45% subsidy, phased in over three years. Model B
schools would have remained state schools, but could admit Black students up to 50% of the
school's maximum enrollment. Most notably, a vote for Model C schools would have created
so-called "state-aided schools." These schools would have received 75% of their budgets via
state funding and would have been responsible for supplying the remaining 25% of their
operating budgets through user fees from parents and private voluntary donations. Model C
schools, like Model B schools, could also admit Black students capped at 50% of enrollment.
This was an attempt to keep schools in the same status that they had in the Apartheid era.
In her study of racial and cultural diversity in newly integrated public schools in
South Africa, Zafar (1998) argued that ―the term ‗Black‘ inaccurately homogenizes the
Indian, Colored and African race groups and conceals the ethnic differences that are crucial
to desegregation in schools. Yet this is problematic since ‗Colored‘, ‗Africans‘, ‗Indians‘ and
Whites, for that matter, are culturally or economically homogenous. Furthermore, as Naidoo
(1996a) points out, ‗African‘ learners in private or Model C schools may identify themselves
as ‗Africans‘, but their economic interests may be closer to those of their ‗White‘ and
‗Indian‘ peers than to poorer ‗Africans.‘
School fees are currently a factor of concern in the newly ―desegregated‖ part of the
public school system. Charging school fees was another mechanism for excluding those from
17

low socio-economic backgrounds. This mechanism of school fees created inequalities that are
yet to be addressed in the new system. Most schools do not collect much in the way of fees 22.
Indeed, 55% of schools are not able to raise more than R10, 00023 per year in total from fees.
In contrast, public schools in the wealthiest communities are able to charge as much as R10,
000 per learner. Many good township schools charge as much as R6, 700 per year, and good
suburban schools as much as R15, 480 per year. Historically, the practice of user fees can be
traced in part to discriminatory practices adopted at the end of apartheid in an effort to retain
White privilege in education.
In 1992, however, the government required that all Model B and status quo schools
convert to the Model C form. Karlsson (1992) argued that the Apartheid government
undertook such unilateral restructuring and adopted the mechanism of school fees, in part to
shift control of schools to local White communities and out of the hands of a soon-to-beelected democratic government, the Black majority. As a result, by the time the new
democratic government took over the reins of power in 1994, most historically White schools
were now Model C schools and charged school fees. Predictably, the practice of charging
fees disproportionately excluded Black learners, whose parents were often too poor to afford
the significant expense.
Transformational Initiatives in Post Apartheid South Africa
Shortly after this transition, the Department of Education considered three alternative
models with regard to financing education (Naidoo, 1996). Option One would allow schools
to retain the status quo levels of funding with minimal fees charged. Option Two would allow
schools to pursue immediate equalization of expenditures per learner across the board. Option
Three would emphasize parent fees, ostensibly as a way of freeing up state funds in order to

22
23

School Fees : Fees paid at a school for the purposes of tuition
R- Rand is the South African Currency
18

redistribute them towards needy schools. The majority of White schools in South Africa
opted for ―state-aided‖ funding under Option Three as their preferred alternative to the
existing status-quo.
In an attempt to reform schools after the democratic elections of 1994, the
government introduced policies that looked into discriminatory practices, including the
Constitution of South Africa, the White Paper on Education, followed by the South African
Schools Act (SASA). The Constitution stipulated that citizens have the right to basic
education, regardless of the availability of resources (BuaNEWS, 2006). The Bill of Rights
delineated within the South African Constitution (1996)24 is compatible with international
human rights laws, conventions, covenants and declarations.
The Bill of Rights25 – sets forth a number of fundamental social and human rights.
Section 29 of the Bill of Rights, deals with specific issues such as the right to education,
redressing past discriminatory practices and language in education.
Further (1) everyone has the right
(a) To basic education, including adult basic education; and

24

The Constitution of South Africa is the supreme law of the country of South Africa. It
provides the legal foundation for the existence of the Republic of South Africa, sets out the
rights and duties of the citizens of South Africa, and defines the structure of the Government
of South Africa. The current Constitution of South Africa was adopted by the Constitutional
Assembly on 11 October 1996, certified by the Constitutional Court on 4 December, signed
by President Nelson Mandela on 10 December, and came into effect on 4 February 1997,
replacing and repealing the Interim Constitution of 1993. Since its adoption, the Constitution
has been amended sixteen times
25

The Bill of Rights: This Bill of Rights is a cornerstone of democracy in South Africa. It
enshrines the rights of all people in our country and affirms the democratic values of human
dignity, equality and freedom.
19

(b)To further education; the state must take reasonable measures to make
education available and accessible to all. (Constitution of the Republic
of South Africa, 1996: Chapter 2 ... South Africa's first bill of rights)
Since 1994, the South African Government has made it clear that schools should
change in democratic directions. The White Paper on Education and Training published in
1995 espouses the Government‘s basic education philosophy:
It should be the goal of education and training to enable a democratic, free,
equal, just and peaceful society to take proper root in our land. This requires
active encouragement of mutual respect of our people‘s diverse religious,
cultural traditions and the education system must counter the legacy of
violence by promoting values underlying the democratic processes and the
charter of fundamental rights, the process due to law and civic responsibility
and by teaching values and skills of conflict resolution and the importance of
mediation and the benefits of tolerance and cooperation (Department of
Education, 1995: 22).
The new South African Government was aware that it could not compromise on the
quality of education. Thus, the White Paper on Education states: ―Implementing the free and
compulsory phase of education implies not merely securing formal attendance at school but
also ensuring that the material and human resources available in schools are sufficient to
allow an acceptable quality of learning to proceed‖ (The White Paper on Education, 1995:
53). Essentially, the White Paper on Education mandated democratic principles for the
troubled education system.
South Africa received many calls from people requesting implementation of parental
participation in schools (Sayed, 1995). As a result, the South African Schools Act (SASA,

20

1996) was initiated in 1996. It is a policy designed to be implemented at the school level and
its aim was to decentralize educational control and decision-making.
One of the most important educational reform policies in post-Apartheid South
Africa was the desegregation of public schools. However, despite the fact that these policies
were put in place to implement change, the Black schools continue to remain homogeneous.
While Black schools did not desegregate for various reasons, large numbers of Black students
from the urban townships and rural South Africa began enrolling in formerly White public
schools (Ndimande, 2006). The emerging pattern of this policy change appears to be one
sided with Black learners being bussed into White schools.
Various trends emerged during the 1980s and 1990s, as vehicles for dismantling the
Bantu Education System. Even though these trends focused on change, some were
controversial. Education was designed to allocate roles, constraints and aspirations. One such
conceptualization was ―People‘s Education.‖26 People‘s Education was conceived as an
educational strategy for mobilization against discrimination and oppression. It was defined
variously as a movement, a vehicle of political mobilization, an alternative philosophy of
education, or as a combination of the three. It was introduced to maximize resistance to
apartheid education, but not to map out a specific policy agenda (Kallaway, 2000). Wolpe
(1988) suggested that People‘s Education had a three-fold mission.
1) It defined elements of the future education system;
2) it projected the new ideas in terms of objectives that could be struggled for
and realized in the present;
3) and aimed to put in place structures and practices that constituted the
foundation for the future education system (Kallaway, 2000).

26

People‘s Education: An educational strategy for mobilization against discrimination and
oppression in the 1980s.
21

When the practices of the government were no longer tolerable, the primary goal
became to dismantle Apartheid at the start of the 1990s. The same was to be said of the
education system with an introduction of the new system of non-discrimination by
desegregation of schools.
Although unrestricted formal desegregation by decree came into being in 1990, by
1993, there were only 60,000 Black students at Model C schools and only about 40,000
‗African‘ and ‗Colored‘ students at ‗Indian‘ schools. By the end of 1995, the number of
‗African‘ students at ‗Colored‘, ‗White‘ and ‗Indian‘ schools did not exceed 15% (or
approximately 200,000) of the total student enrollment at these schools (see Race Relations
Survey, 1994/1995; Naidoo, 1996a).
In the 1990s, the new Model C White schools were introduced as an attempt to reform
away from Apartheid education, but the approach actually reconstructed the White dominated
school system under a new guise. Model C schools were formed on a basis of an admission
policy previously introduced by Minister Piet Clase and gave White parents authority to
maintain the status quo while adopting the three models. This gave them control over
admissions, as well. This pattern made it highly likely that the Black middle class would be
the immediate beneficiary of what limited deracialization was occurring (Carrim and Sayed
in Badat, 1995; Zafar, 1998).
In 1991, the National Party Government began to allow a few Black (i.e., Africans,
Indian, and Colored) learners to attend White state schools under certain stringent conditions
(Naidoo, 1996). Simultaneously, Indian and Colored schools began accepting Black learners.
However, the post-Apartheid government mandated formal desegregation by decree in 1994,
which was not fully in practice until 1995 (Naidoo, 1996; Carrim, 1995 in SAHR, 1999).

22

Desegregation in former White schools aimed at redressing the legacy of the racially
and ethnoracially fragmented, dysfunctional and unequal education system inherited from
Apartheid. Under the system of Apartheid, there were separate schools for African, White,
Indian and Colored (mixed race) children. The education provided was not only separate; it
was unequal with spending heavily in a biased way towards White children. Black South
African children received least of all (Christie, 1991).
Clearly, significant changes occurred after 1994; particularly, the once monolithic
centralized public system was broken down, i.e., Black and White schools. As the top-down
system began to be dismantled, the government created opportunities for individuals and
schools to enact change at the grassroots level. The South African Schools Act, provided
bottom-up leadership. As the works of Tihanyi (2003), Soudien (1996), Naidoo (1996), Vally
and Dalamba (1999) and Soudien and Sayed (2003) suggest, there was a deep resentment in
many schools toward the so-called newcomers (Black children in formerly White schools).
These students were treated like visitors at school. The pedagogical practice amounts to what
Soudien calls ‗aggressive assimilation‘ which he predicts may ultimately result in intolerance
and violence.
School Desegregation as Transformation
One of the visible transformational initiatives in South African schools was school
desegregation when former White schools admitted Black learners, thus adopting
Constitutional stipulations and SASA (1996). Desegregation as a transformational initiative
essentially followed the dictates of the freedom charter to ―open doors to all learners and
cultures‖ (The Freedom Charter, 1955).
Dismantling apartheid through the constitution and the SASA were necessary but
there were insufficient responses to embedded patterns of segregation that existed in public
schools. School desegregation requires more than a well-formulated policy (Zafar, 1996). The
23

most current changes as articulated by the Constitution of accepting Black learners in
formerly White schools affect the formerly White schools and private schools. Because of
adequate funding, there remains a significant deficit in both urban and rural Black schools.
To many people in South Africa, school desegregation is seen as synonymous with the end of
Apartheid Education. What happens in desegregated schools is the focus of this study.
Fundamentally, Jansen (1990) acknowledges that integration is not merely about
changing the racial demographics of the learner and educator bodies. Desegregation,
compared to integration means transforming the educational landscape by attending to a
range of discriminatory practices: sexism, racism, xenophobia, and ethnicity. It means
seeking to construct curricula and texts that are informed by demographic ethos. It requires
teachers, school managers and communities to provide a democratic environment (Dolby,
2001).
Desegregation is an attractive transformational vehicle; however, there are
shortcomings. For example, in her study Towards Inclusion in South Africa, Brook (1995)
reveals that South Africa faces a particularly difficult task in educational democratization
owing to the idiosyncratic, arbitrary legacy of Apartheid. She points out that, first, in
considering inclusion, the geographic location is a crucial factor as places like South Africa‘s
rural and township areas are isolated. Financial resources are the second factor in that
budgetary concerns are ubiquitous at all levels. Given the magnitude of the reform objectives,
school fees are a barrier. Third, another limiting factor is language. For many learners,
English is a third or fourth language and many of the teachers have not been trained to
instruct such students, as they were not equipped to teach English as a second/third language.
The fourth factor is resistance to change within institutional structures and processes.
Further evidence of the shortcomings of desegregation stems from the institutional
vestiges of inequality. The legacy of institutional fragmentation and inequity dates back to
24

1953, when the Bantu Education Act was introduced and it has not yet been eradicated
(Brook, 1995, Naidoo, 1996, Dolby, 2001). The African schools still use Department of
Education and Training materials from the Apartheid education system. The question of
including Blacks in former White schools is far from reaching its objective, as observed by
Naidoo (1996). Former White schools go on with ―business as usual.‖ Yet much of the debate
today seems to assume that once schools have been desegregated, they will be organized and
function as they have in the past (Nkomo, 1990). Desegregation is yet another of South
Africa‘s contested transitions. What are the competing agendas in the schools? Whose
agendas are they? What are the experiences of learners in desegregated school settings?
The education of Black children is a major concern in urban and rural South Africa.
As a result of the abolition of Apartheid education, a number of schools ―opened their doors
to all learners‖ as stipulated in the ANC‘s freedom charter, unconditionally and in line with
the national education policy as laid down by the Constitution (Section 32(a)) and the White
Paper on Education (1995 and 1996). Limited desegregation of White state schools only
began in 1990, following passage of the educational reforms. Colored and Indian schools,
though, began to admit African students in 1985, although up to 1990 this practice was
deemed illegal by the state.
Comparisons to the American South
In an appraisal of American schools, Rist (1979) observed that while learners may
have been desegregated, they may not necessarily have been integrated. Desegregation is a
mechanical process, which merely involves establishing the physical proximity of members
of different groups in the same school. It implies nothing about the quality of the interracial
contact.
In the South African context, desegregation involves the ―opening‖ of racially
exclusive schools to members of all racial and ethnic groups. Integration is achieved only
25

when positive ‗interlope‘ (Rist, 1979, 158) contact has been fostered. Integration is not just
proximity among the members of different groups. It involves interactions of learners in a
multiracial learning environment, both in and outside the classroom, where learners are
provided with equal status and equal opportunities.
There are reasons that desegregation is important, including the provision of improved
and social learning environments for all. South African Apartheid schools promoted
inequality by deliberately giving more money to White schools because the school authorities
had the power to provide socio-economic resources. Today, school segregation may be seen
as part of the centuries old system of racism and segregation. Gillborn‘s (1995) conviction is
that, particularly in South Africa, the school system could offer an ideal setting in which to
challenge racism in ways that might positively impact both students and the community at
large. At the heart of discriminatory practices are actions that generally deny other people the
dignity, opportunities and privileges made available to Whites collectively and individually
(Feagin & Barnett, 2000).
Desegregation is not unique to South African schools. Public schools in the Southern
United States were racially segregated until the landmark Supreme Court decision of Brown
v. Board of Education (1954). The actual implementation of school integration was not
without contestation and controversy. The Supreme Court's 1954 decision reminds us that
desegregation, "was not about raising scores" for children of minorities "but about giving
Black children access to majority culture, so they could negotiate it more confidently‖
(Feagin & Barnett, 2000). For African-Americans to have equal opportunity, higher test
scores will not suffice, there have to be programs designed to eradicate past inequalities.
The process of desegregation in South African schools up to now constitutes only a
few steps towards the transformation of a segregated system inherited from the Apartheid era
(Pampallis, 1991; Naidoo, 1996). Only a few Blacks have gained admission to the formerly
26

White schools. In fact, commentators often remark on the ease of racial accommodation in
schools but real stories from learners contrast these reports. The high-profile media cases of
racial conflict such as in Vryburg (North West), Ladysmith (KwaZulu Natal), Potgietersrus
(Northern Province), Cape Town High (Western Cape), and Bryanston High (Gauteng) show
tension raised by efforts to desegregate (Vally, 1999). The above cases provide evidence of
violence in the newly desegregated schools. For example the Babeile case27. Through these
incidents, one sees cases of violence as factors that prohibit equitable implementation of
democratic reforms across the country (Vally, 1999).
In the above study there are almost weekly reports of racial incidents in schools, and
there are countless unreported incidents of racism and intolerance, especially in wellshielded, "proper" middle-class White schools and in primary schools. In these schools where
children are unable to articulate prejudicial experiences of language, religion, race, ethnicity,
class and others, including xenophobia (Jansen, 1998). It is therefore necessary to look at the
experience of Black and White learners in formerly White schools in order gain a better
understanding of students‘ perceptions in desegregated schools.
Former White schools in South Africa express intolerance and prejudice toward
anything that deviates from what was established in the Apartheid era (Naidoo, 1996). The
problem of intolerance, prejudice and discrimination is experienced and continues among
poor Black children, children with disabilities, children with special needs, immigrant
children, who speak languages other than the former official languages English and
Afrikaans, and children with HIV/AIDS (Naidoo, 1996, Vally, 1999, Jansen, 1999).

27

Babeile Case: Babeile's case points to the need for an extensive campaign led by
government and communities to eradicate racism in our education system.
27

In arguing for critical anti-racism, Carrim and Soudien (1999) saw the need for a deessentialized conception of identity, one that could capture how people live their lives, the
nature of the experiences they have, and the ways in which their identities are formed. They
argued that, specifically within schools, being Black in an Indian or Colored school is
decidedly different from being Black in a White school. Being Black, middle-class and
proficient in English is very different from being Black, working class from a rural area and
not having any knowledge of English at all. Being Indian, female and lesbian would have
rather different implications in a White school environment as opposed to being Indian, male
and heterosexual in the same school. The authors accept this argument. They however believe
that the term ‗Black‘ used in particular contexts needs not be construed in essentialist terms.
Both in South Africa and post-war Britain; the term Black was employed as a reaction to the
widely used, but undermining phrase ‗non-White‘. It was used to generate solidarity among
diverse Black communities in order to promote collective action.
The word Black has different political and cultural meaning and context (Brah, 1992)
its specific meaning in post-war Britain cannot be taken to have denied cultural differences
between African, Caribbean and South Asian people. Cultural difference was not the
organizing principle within this discourse or political practice. The concrete political
struggles in which the new meaning was grounded acknowledge cultural differences but seek
to accomplish political unity against racism. Brah also urges vigilance as the discourse of
ethnic difference could be deployed by certain politicians, as a means to create their own
power base rather than to empower those whose needs have not been met by manifesting
advantage from the term Black.
The classification and controversies of who is Black in the South African policy of
desegregation have not been addressed. Apartheid manifested itself anew after 1994;

28

Apartheid continues to cast the long shadow of ideology and continues to cast its ―Stygian28
gloom‖. (Reference) Desegregation does not appear through ―racially explicit‖ policies, but
by proxy. There are high school fees, exclusionary language admission policies and other
transparent maneuvers such as ―crowding out‖ or ―bussing‖ or ―taxing-out29 for Black
learners in White schools from outside the feeder area; these symptoms indicate that the
legacy of apartheid itself is taking on a new sophisticated form (Carrim, Mkwanazi and
Nkomo, 1993).
Eliminating overt racism in educational policies is the first step in challenging past
inequalities. In addition to desegregation in schools, challenging the past and moving beyond
the legacy of Apartheid is how the South African Department of Education plans to work
towards social justice and equity with the introduction of the new curriculum titled
"Curriculum 2005" (Asmal, 1995). Educators need to address factors of social inequality to
minimize racial disparities in education for the future. To the degree that segregated schools
foster unwarranted fears, misconceptions, and negative stereotypes and provide unequal
education opportunities, they are indeed inherently malicious (Bennett, 1981). However, it is
false to assume that simply desegregating a school will eradicate the evils from Apartheid, as
seen in Bennett‘s (1981) claim that both research and casual observation document an
existence of segregation within desegregated schools. However, it is false to assume that
simply desegregating a school will eradicate the evils from apartheid, as seen in Bennett‘s
(1981) claim that both research and casual observation document an existence of segregation
within desegregated schools.

28

Sty‧gi‧an [usually before noun] literary
unpleasantly dark, and making you feel nervous or afraid.
29
―Bussing out‖( ―or taxing-out : this is a made-up term South African ) it originates from
―taxi‖ meaning the mode of transport used for Black learners from the township or rural parts
of South Africa to bring them to former white schools.
29

Some of these formal practices include school fees, tracking, grouping and
scheduling of extracurricular activities and informal practices such as student seating
preferences in the classroom and cafeteria settings. Too many desegregated schools in the
United States face racial tensions, apathy, and absenteeism as a reaction to forced bussing
and desegregation. All of these conditions retard personal achievements among students.
Inequalities do exist in desegregated contexts (Bennett, 1981).
Race Relations in Desegregated Schools: Will the New System Reverse, Halt or
Improve?
By examining one of the transformational initiatives in school governance within
the South African School‘s Act, this study will help clarify the challenges of educational
change in South Africa (Soudien, 1996; Vally, 2005; Naidoo, 1996). While the law
ensures that Blacks have access to formerly White schools, White flight from those
schools has become an equally prominent feature of the South African educational
landscape. According to an Education Foundation report, the enrollment of Black students
in public schools increased dramatically, from approximately eight million in 1991 to over
ten million in 1997. However, this 24 percent increase was mirrored by a 21 percent
decrease in White enrollment (Brook, 1996).
There are many challenges and it is crucial to express these challenges and issues
in terms of how they affect the well-being of the children. It is particularly relevant in the
South African context to transform an education system that is still saddled with the
legacies of Apartheid in many respects (Soudien, 2004). In some schools, changes have
been encouraged and have reinforced what is already in operation, whereas in other
schools change has been resisted. However, addressing issues of educational
transformation, the reconstituted provincial education departments have done little to

30

prepare teachers, school administrators, and other stakeholders to tackle the complexities
and dynamics involved in the racial desegregation of schools.
Wolpe (1988) argues that neither race nor class, by itself, is capable of explaining
the social formation and the ways in which position, privilege and power are distributed.
Language dominance can raise important questions of power. The use of English and
Afrikaans in formerly White schools as the medium of instruction remains sensitive and
unresolved. Jansen (2994) states that even if desegregation can succeed for a number of
years, the controversy of language dominance remains.
Wolpe (1988) also calls into question the ways in which discourses of race and
class have been mobilized to understand South African racial discrimination. In his text
Race, Class and the Apartheid State, he simply argues against the dominant iconographic
systems of South Africa, particularly those of race, and looks at more complex ways of
understanding social differences in South Africa. In attempting to analyze post-apartheid
education, there are many challenges.
There is much more hope for the new South Africa, even when the new
government tries to assert itself. However, Wolpe, like Jansen, contended that the new
issue was the use of English or Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. This racial discourse
of apartheid has been sustained and carried into the new South Africa schools. There are
no guidelines to implement South Africa School‘s Act ( SASA) this encouraged White
teachers to choose business as usual (Naidoo, 1996; Wolpe, 1988). This study seeks to
find out whether the emerging patterns are or might be similar.
In the United States, inequalities in schools have continued well after the Brown v.
Board of Education decision that declared segregated schools unequal in 1954. Likewise,
in South Africa, Black South Africans have been subject to poorer facilities, less
expenditure per pupil, poorly trained teachers, and sometimes a shortage of Black
31

teachers. These inequalities continued until the historic public elections in April 1994. In
both the United States and South Africa, until legally mandated to do otherwise, Whites
constructed educational systems designed to maintain the privileges of White students and
to prepare Black South African and African American students for the subservient roles
that they were expected to play in their respective societies. There are historical
similarities in the ways in which Blacks and African Americans were denied equal
opportunity. For example, Murray (1997) has documented injustice in educational
systems in both the United States and South Africa, stemming from the detrimental effects
of unequal educational resources and segregation.
One of the larger conceptual issues to emerge is that South Africa should look at
the reasons for inequality to try to draw from the lessons of Apartheid. The colonial and
Apartheid experiences have had a tremendous impact on the collective and individual
psyches of both Black and White South Africans as well as all other identity groups. To a
varying degree, the collective behavior reflects this deep rooted experience (SAHR, 1999).
It is apparent that the provision of equitable education that is inclusive and
representative of the diverse cultures of South Africa is not only necessary but also
essential. It has become necessary for South Africans to respect diverse cultures and to
eliminate all forms of discrimination. This is a mandate and education has an important
role to play (Ntshoe, 1991). In the aftermath of apartheid, it is pivotal that teachers, parents
and students learn to function within diverse populations and within multicultural settings.
Not only is the South African Government hoping for more cooperation and democratic
practices in desegregated schools, it also hopes to promote cross-cultural and positive
racial interactions (Lynch, 1992 as quoted in Harber, 1998). To reach these goals requires
a methodology to answer questions about the actual experiences of learners during the

32

process of desegregation. The methodology outlined in the next chapter provides us with
the guiding principles for this study.
Summary
This study focuses on cross-racial interactions among Black and White learners in
South Africa. The current study will explore the ways in which learners experience
desegregation in formerly White schools and how these experiences impact their academic
achievements. How schools adapt to increased numbers of Black students is critical to
building a non-racist, non-sexist South Africa. This study examined interactions between
Black and White students in one desegregated school in Pretoria, South Africa to
understand the experiences of desegregation among learners in South African schools.
Few studies have considered representing the voices of learners in the newly desegregated
school system in South Africa.

33

CHAPTER 3
METHODS
Qualitative methods were used as this study to understand the cross-racial
interactions among learners in a South African school. The qualitative research design
employed here used a case study approach and presented collected data as narration. The
goal is that the study will contribute to theory, educational practice, policymaking and
social consciousness (Mc Muller & Schumacher, 2001). The central research question
examined by this study is: what are the cross-racial interactions among Black and White
learners in a former ―Whites only‖ school of South Africa?
Patton (1985) and Sherman and Webb (1988) describe qualitative inquiry as one
method that shows a direct concern for experience as it is lived, felt or undertaken. Three
categories in qualitative studies by Maxwell (1998) are:
1. Understanding the meaning to participants in the study, of the events, situations and
actions with which the subjects are involved, and of the accounts they give of their
lives and experiences;
2. Understanding the particular context within which the participants act and the
influence this context has on their actions and;
3. Understanding the processes by which events and actions take place.
4. Research show that there are limited studies in cross racial interaction in postApartheid schools.
Field Methods
1. The field methods to be employed in this study include the following:
2. Observations of students in and out of class while at school.

34

3. Analysis of documents to collect information about school policies, to reveal
institutional positions on race, language and gender: and to identify students who
have dropped out of school.
4. Interviews with students (both individually and in small groups), teachers and
administrators.
These field methods are related to the research question and the theoretical
framework because they seek to bring attention to individual voices and to capture the
cross-racial interactions among learners in a desegregated school. Critical Race Theory
(CRT) points to the importance of the marginalized in describing cross-racial
relationships. To find the marginalized, it is important to see and hear from a variety of
students, teachers and administrators as well as to learn from documentary evidence.
Data Collection
Data were collected from May 2008 – December 2008. During this period daily
visits were made to the school for the purpose of classroom observations and interviews.
The interviews lasted 45-60 minutes. All interviews were tape recorded. Appendix A
(Interview protocol for students) includes the interview questions used. Merriam (1988)
argues that the researcher‘s role in case study research is central. Face-to-face interviews
were used.
As a researcher I identified nonverbal cues among the learners for more evidence
of their cross-racial interactions. This method immediately helped me process, clarify, and
summarize findings as the study evolved. The case study method is also, ―one of the few
modes of scientific study that admits the subjective perception and biases of both
participants and researcher into the research frame.‖ Consequently ―all observations are
filtered through one‘s world view, one‘s values, own perspective‖ (Merriam, 1988).

35

This study used a qualitative research approach in which I triangulate data from
multiple sources, such as interviews, observations, and school documents. Data were
collected from sustained classroom observations, in-depth interviews and field notes,
primarily from learners, teachers and administrators. This research was conducted at an
Afrikaans-speaking high school in Pretoria. This school is broadly representative of the
larger number of desegregated schools in this community.
This enquiry included three stages:


I explored the introductory questions to and got acquainted with the school and built
rapport with the learners (see stage 1) of the protocol questions);



I asked questions directly related to cross-racial interactions among learners and other
questions generated from the observation, and



I posed questions related to other issues. (See interview questions, Appendices 1, 2 and
3).

Sample
I selected the grade eleven classes in the school as the sample for this study based
on the fact that they have spent a reasonable amount of time in the desegregated
experience but, at the same time, still can benefit from further changes. The Grade 12
(twelve) learners were excluded from any research since this turns out to be a sensitive
time of their final year as these students were preparing for their matriculation
examinations. The area where the school is located is not far from townships east and west
of Pretoria, where the majority of the Black students reside. Most of the White learners
live in the area, which was subdivided by the Group Areas Act in the apartheid South
Africa prior to 1994. Some now live in the former White residential area after the
scrapping of the Group Areas Act, which separated learners.
The sample included:
36

 Sixteen students from Grade 11, including eight white students and eight black learners,
eight female learners and eight male learners,of this sample eight Afrikaans-speakers,
students and eight non-Afrikaans speakers.
 The Administrators, the Principal and the Head of Department were interviewed for
background information verification of what was said by the learners about cross-racial
interaction and other related issues. Observations took place in classrooms, sports fields,
the cafeteria, bus/taxi rides, meetings and faculty rooms.
Interview questions guiding the observations and interviews are:
 How do you describe your interactions with members of your race and members of other
races in this school?
 How do you describe others‘ cross-race interactions in your school?
(See protocol questions in appendix A)
Data Sources
Documents included school registers, admission books, grade schedule, school
policies, students‘ books, official letters and correspondence, grade rosters, teaching
materials, correspondence from the Education Ministry at the provincial and district levels
and planning schedule for students, yearbooks. These documents revealed information
about instruction, opportunities for learning for specific students (race/language based),
school policies on race and language, and identified students who have dropped out of
school.
During observations, notes were made that form the basis of the analysis and that
highlight issues that arose from the interviews (classroom observations was followed by
interviews). Students were selected after classroom observations ended to control the
representation of students in accordance to race, language and gender. I chose equal
numbers of White and Black, Afrikaans speaking/non-Afrikaans speaking and male and
37

females for the interviews. Bulmer and Warwick (1999: 34) argue that observation is
appropriate when conducting an in-depth study of values and belief systems while
Marshall and Rossman (1999:107) define observation as a systematic noting and recording
of events, behaviors and objects in the social setting chosen for the study.
I kept a daily journal of my experiences, impressions, reactions, thought processes
and other significant events that occurred during the data collection phase. A personal
account of my feelings, ideas, prejudices, hunches, impressions, and problems (Bogdan &
Biklen, 1992) served as an invaluable tool for cross-referencing and validating other
observations in the data analysis of this study. Journaling helped address my own initial
subjective reactions to the participants and the sites, issues of cultural adjustment, biases
and values. Journaling is a strategic method to juxtapose my field notes with what I may
be experiencing at a personal and cultural level. By serving as a form of triangulation, the
journal was helping other scholars assess possible sources of bias arising from my
individual experience.
Data Analysis
Marsha and Rossman (1999, 150) define data analysis as ―the process of bringing
order, structure and interpretation to the mass of collected data‖. They view data analysis
as a messy, ambiguous, time-consuming, creative and fascinating process. Jorgeson
(1989,107) states that the analysis of data is the breaking up and separating, or
disassembling of research materials into pieces, parts, elements or ―units‖. When facts are
broken into manageable pieces, the researcher is able to sort and sift them, searching for
types, classes, sequences, processes patterns and the whole. He adds that the main aim of
data analysis is to assemble or reconstruct the data in a meaningful or comprehensive way.
A coding strategy was used to identify the important factors of the study. Marshall
and Rossman (1999:152; Creswell, 2001, 155) identified four phases of data analysis:
38

1. Organizing data: According to major categories of coding: The analysis was
presented because of the dialogues in interviews and description of interviews
during the period research is completed.
2. Generating categories, themes and patterns- the worlds of qualitative research
are not discovered but are created in the text written (Denzin, 1995). The text
was created in the process of data collection.
3. Coding data: A list of categories was developed that reflect major and minor
themes of the data. The process of sorting information might be done with file
folders, file cards, identifiers or computer software (Merriam, 1988)
1.

Testing emergent understandings of the students: the change of patterns and
searching for alternative explanations. Patterns were searched by comparing with patterns
predicted from theory and the literature and writing a report.
In the analysis phase, I returned to my research question and CRT to identify crossracial interactions among learners at U school; and to understand the desegregation
experience at the school. This study intends to codify the actual experiences of South
African learners to help the government move ahead in its desegregation and
deracialization processes.

39

CHAPTER 4
KEY FINDINGS
This chapter presents the key findings that emerged from this study and examines
the cross racial interaction of Black and White learners in a former ‗Whites only‘ school in
Pretoria, South Africa. The study explores the nature and intent of cross racial interaction
between learners and intends to explain the emerging patterns of interaction through
activities observed in the classroom; sports; subject choice; and discipline. The central
question of this inquiry is: What is the cross racial interaction of White and Black learners
in a desegregated school? The findings are organized in two broad categories. Part 1
presents the contextual background and overviews of the school structure. Part II focuses
on key themes that emerged from data collected through interviews with students, teachers
and school administrators.
Part 1: Background and the Structure of the School
This dissertation study was conducted at a public school (―U School‖) which is
located in the outskirts of greater Pretoria area of Centurion, in the Gauteng Province in
South Africa. U School was formed in (year) as a Whites-only school primarily serving
middle and working class Whites. The area is not far from townships east and west of
Pretoria. Most of the White learners live in the area which was subdivided by the Group
Areas Act in the Apartheid South Africa prior to 1994. Some now live in the former
White residential area after the scrapping of the Group Areas Act, which separate learners.
As with all others in South Africa, U school was founded on the Bantu Education
Act of 1954, which provided for separate, superior education for Whites and subordination
for all others. Its status was further codified in the Apartheid Education Act (1954) of
which further circumscribed racial boundaries. For years U school diligently and
competently served its narrow constituency. That dynamic was little changed as Apartheid
40

tottered. On the eve of the new era (1993), U school had a student population that
consisted of (# White, Black, etc).
In South Africa, high school begins at eighth grade. Students study for five years.
At the end they write a national examination known as ‗matric30.‘ The system used to be
based on Higher or Standard grade in subject teaching. As of 2008, students must maintain
a passing grade is their Home Language, additional languages, mathematics or
mathematics literacy, and life orientation in order to progress to University. Officially in
2008 the Senior Certificate was changed to the National Senior Certificate. The system of
higher or standard grade has been dropped. An alternative examination is possible in the
Independent Examination Board (EIB). This board exam represents many private schools).
The public school structure is represented by a National Examination.
With the demise of apartheid, one would assume that there is freer migration of
South Africans than before between the various provinces in the post Apartheid era. The
school has admitted Black learners. School enrollment data indicates that there are learners
from most of the South African provinces. Despite the apartheid government‘s policy of
separating South Africans according to their ethnic and language orientation, the language
distribution still shows a remarkable diversity.
Pretoria is the largest geographical council area (576,185 square kilometers) in the
province and has a fragmented pattern of settlement both financially and racially. This
fragmentation which is reflected in the districts and school was in the study. The school
was selected as a case with consideration that it represents the largest desegregated school
in Pretoria.

30

Matric: Means the grade and standard level currently called grade 12 of schooling in South
Africa
41

The U school is a parallel language medium (Afrikaans/English) school located in
South West of Pretoria formerly known as Verwoerdburg (during the time of my study the
name used is Centurian) in an area that previously served predominantly Colored
communities as part of Apartheid residential segregation policies. The school was
established by the former class of White Afrikaans speaking people. Not far from the
school is a squatter camp that primarily houses Black residents.
There are huge disparities in wealth across this metropolitan area with average
annual per capita incomes ranging from R53, 927 in the northern suburbs, to R8,358 in the
districts in which this schools are located31. Mixed areas, which started to develop in the
inner city during the 1980s are now becoming predominantly ‗Black‘ and poorer.
Wealthier Indians and Africans are starting to move into former White suburbs, but the
scale of such relocation is too low to make any significant impact. The traditionally Black
residential areas (mainly townships) remain exclusively Black. The ―township and rural
schools‖ continue to serve only Black learners. There has been greater integration in
schools that served Colored and Indian students, as these schools are more accessible from
the township areas. The U school‘s location is in the same area and falls within the
description.
The present pattern of former ―Whites only‖ opening schools is not quantitatively
significant in terms of the crisis for provision of schooling in South Africa. The U school

31

The demographic data on the province and school districts is from the Municipal
Demarcation Board of South Africa which is based on the Statistics South Africa Census
1996 and Census 2001 databases. See http://www.demarcation.org.za School specific data
is from the SRN 1996, SRN 2000, the EMIS Annual Survey for Schools (March 2002),
and the 10Th School Head Count Survey (2002).
42

is in the process of adopting a Clase32 model, which is popularly known as Model C,
although it is not yet complete. While he was Minister of Education and Culture, Piet
Clase announced in the House of Assembly in April 1991 that separate education was
abolished in favor of a single education system for the whole country. Post 1991, the
schools were changed into three models:
1. Model A became private schools
2. Model B became state schools but were going to do away with admission policy
3. Model was C state-aided schools.
The estimated population that the school serves is 28,614 (6,512 households). The
estimated annual median household income is R25126 ($3500) US, approximately 40% of
households earn below R18000 ($2500).
The student population of the school under study is 941, comprised of 461 boys and
480 girls with 60% Afrikaans children and 40% African (Black), proportion that is steadily
increasing. The majority of children who speak Afrikaans are White children. African
children, who are in a minority in the school as a whole, are in the majority in the English
medium stream. Registration for schooling closes on September 28 of every year. The
following clubs run within the school: Natural science expo, Afrikaans expo, Olympiads in
several subjects (competition on school subjects undertaken by several schools) and web33
clubs (Internet chat web is designed for learners to chat on the school‘s webpage.)The school
facilities and indicates symbolizes a school equipped with resources.

32

Clase, Piet: The formation of Model A, B, and C model is attributed to the Minister of
Education and Culture then.
33

Web- webpage: the school has information a webpage compiled on an internet for
public viewing.
43

There are 44 teachers at the school, all of whom are White and Afrikaans speaking.
Five of the grade head teachers (Grade 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) and the eight administrative staff are
also all White. The school‘s custodial workers are all Black. The parent component of the
School Governing The School Governing Body (SGB) governs the management of its
school; and, among other responsibilities decides the language policy of the school, which,
according to the Department of Education, must promote multilingualism. SGB)34 is made
up of eight White Afrikaans speaking parents. There are no Black parents represented on the
governing body although a number were nominated, according to the school. In this
desegregated school, the White learners come from primarily middle or upper class homes.
The Black children come from primarily working class or poor homes.
The learners receive letters with the following information to give to their parents.
School fees are R6600 per learner per year. Centre fees for specific subjects are raised
individually, and then added to the school fees total for an all encompassing, individual
school fee account. The implications thereof are that some of the parents will pay more than
others, depending on the subjects their children take in different grades.
Registration fee forms part and parcel of the school fee. There is a process for gaining
exemption of school fees. Application for an exemption of school fees must be done via
official documents, available at the financial office. The arrangement at this school is noted
as saying the exemption of school fees is and will always be a departmental issue, and if

34

(School Governing Body (SGB): A school governing body is a government of the School,
established in terms of the South African Schools Act. It is mandated to set policies and rules
that govern the school, and monitor the implementation of the rules. The SGB gets its
mandate from the different members (learners, parents, teaching and nonteaching staff) of the
school community. These members of the
School community elects the SGB. The elected members of the school governing body
represent the school community.
44

parents do not apply for exemption they will follow the official route explained The below:
The notice in a school‘s newsletter states: ―Failing to pay school fees is against the law.‖
The cultural activities of the school are: Choir singing and solo singing, drummer and
debating society, orators and Rissieit Eisteddfod35 (Lig die emmer36 Voortrekkers,37Krismas
Carols, Arts Festival and Green fields concert. These activities symbolize the Afrikaans
culture and its practices. This school used to be an Afrikaans only school. A few years ago it
was converted into a parallel medium. In a school officially known as a parallel medium the
language of instruction is English for Black learners and Afrikaans for White learners.
The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa recognizes eleven languages. They
are: English, Tswana, Afrikaans, S. Sotho, Zulu and Xhosa, Tsonga, Sepedi, Seswazi,
Ndebele, and Tshivenda. All eleven of those are represented in the home languages of the
Black learners at U school. The language of instruction for Afrikaans speakers is Afrikaans
(their mother tongue) while Black learners are taught in Afrikaans which is not most often
not their mother tongue or first language.
In South Africa, the School Governing Body is the only statutory body in the school
which decides what language of instruction has to prevail at the school. Prior to 1994,
educators, learners, parents and communities were largely excluded from school governance.
Like schools themselves, SGBs were also organized along racial lines. However, with the
establishment of the South African Schools Act of 1996, all public schools are required to
have an SGB democratically elected by members of the school community. According to the

35

Lig in die emmer- Light in the bucket (a traditional game played by people of Afrikaans
origin)
36
Rissieit Eisteddfod – A game played for competition in an Afrikaans school.
37
The Voortrekkers (Afrikaans and Dutch for pioneers, literally "those who trek ahead",
"fore-trekkers") were emigrants during the 1830s and 1840s.
45

Act, the SGB is mandated to set the policies and rules which govern the school, and to make
sure that the school is run according to those policies.
Hence the dominating language of instruction at the school is instruction is Afrikaans.
The second language of instruction is English, and while it is offered as a medium of
instruction to Black learners, their first language is not necessarily English. The School
Governing Body (SGB) is mandated to select the languages of instruction for the school it
governs.
In an interview with a female Black student, she stated that they asked the principal
why the school did not have a Black teacher. He replied that he hired one, but the teacher
could not stay. The reason given was that there was too much work, and she could not handle
it.
The Group Areas Act No. 41 (7 July 1950) had forced physical separation between
races by creating different residential areas for different races. Implementation began in 1954.
It led to forced removal of people living in "wrong" areas and the wholesale destruction of
their communities. For example, Coloreds living in District Six, in Cape Town were affected
by the Group Areas Act No. 77 where Blacks were removed to Soweto (1957). The
following condition helps this study to locate how space in South Africa has been contested
and the composition of the school population at the U school.
The following are learning areas at this school, which is common in public school.
Two official languages English and Afrikaans (this differs from school to school),
Geography, Travel and Tourism, Mathematics, Math Education, Information Technology,
Arts and Crafts.
In this particular grade level I worked with fifteen 15 and interviewed 10 Black and 5
White and interviewed 5 (with consent form signed by parents) learners from whom I
gathered a wealth of data. The data was collected over eight months of daily participation
46

with teachers, learners and the SGB members chose not to participate. The study was
analyzed through the ethnographic interpretive approach, with common patterns picked up
from the voices of learners in interviews and the reading of documents and observation given.
The discussion in this chapter begins with theme: 1) language: privilege and creating or
maintaining power and learners‘ recognition and the researcher‘s observation of the history of
language of instruction in this school; 2) the perception of learners represented in their
voices, the teachers‘ perceptions and their expectations in the desegregated environment.
Part II: Narratives
In South Africa, a host of legislative mechanisms enforced racial segregation in all
walks of life for more than thirty years. These mechanisms became dominant in forming
perceptions in South Africa. Segregated education was never equal education because, in
contrast to Black education, education for Whites was compulsory and free and better
endowed with state funding. Black education suffered from the consequences of insufficient
physical education facilities, shortage of schools, lack of running water, toilet facilities and
electricity, insufficient funds, a high dropout rate, curriculum deficiencies and inadequate
teacher training for Black educators, as well as overworked, underpaid and unmotivated
teachers (Swinepoxes & Booysen, 2003:96).
An Overview of Language Policy in South African Education
In 1976, the South African government passed a ruling to make Afrikaans a second
language of instruction in African schools. The nation‘s learners, especially in the African
schools at whom the ruling was directed, saw this as the imposition of one too many
oppressive laws. Resistance to the ruling led to the 1976 school uprising in Soweto, a large
Black urban development outside of Johannesburg, which quickly spread throughout the
whole country (Christie, 1991; Harsh, 1980; Meridith, 1988). After this national disturbance
against Afrikaans being imposed as a medium of instruction there is an effort and suggestions
47

by the new South African government to promote all of the marginalized languages in
schools. These stipulated suggestions are found in the Education and Language Policy 1996).
Language policy in South African education formed an integral part of the former
Apartheid ideology. Language, together with race and cultural background, provided the
grounds for educating children, both Black and White, separately. A full account of the
controversial role played by language policy in Black schooling is beyond the scope of this
chapter (cf. Hartshorne 1992; McGregor & McGregor 1992). Instead, the ensuing overview
is given as background to the language issue in schooling both Blacks and Whites in a
desegregated environment.
During the time of my study, the new constitution states that English, Afrikaans, and
nine indigenous languages ―shall be the official South African languages at the national level
constitution of SA (1996), White paper of Education (1996), and conditions shall be created
for their development and for the promotion of their equal use and enjoyment‖ (South
African Constitution, 1996). Whether this is happening or not remains to be seen. According
to paragraph 5 of the Language-in-Education Policy (1997), the main aims of the South
African Ministry of Education‘s policy for language in education are:
1. To promote full participation in society and the economy through equitable
and meaningful access to education;
2. To pursue the language policy most supportive of general conceptual growth
amongst learners, and hence to establish additive multilingualism as an
approach to language in education;
3. To promote and develop all the official languages;
4. To support the teaching and learning of all other languages required by
learners or used by communities in South Africa, including languages used for
religious purposes, languages which are important for international trade and
48

communication, and South African Sign Language, as well as Alternative and
Augmentative Communication.
According to the Department of Education‘s language policy, school pupils have a right to be
taught in a language of their choice and they should inform the school which language they
wish to be taught in when applying for admission. Schools should take these preferences into
account and work towards multilingualism.
According to Lion (2003) in Steven and Wolhuter (2006), the multilingual nature of
schools is currently the biggest challenge. Lion regards this tendency as the biggest
demographic challenge of our time, because there are not enough educators to convert schools
from single to parallel medium. Lion also argues that this state of affairs has serious
administrative, didactic and financial implications for his school and he ascribes the situation to
the failure on the part of the Department of Education to launch adequate demographic
investigations and to provide human resources in a particular region based on their
investigation.
Language of Instruction and Governance in U School
The language policy dictates that the other marginalized languages should be
promoted by all schools. In U School there were nine (9) grade 11 classrooms. Five of the
classes enrolled Black learners and the remaining four enrolled primarily White learners. The
language of instruction in the five classrooms for Black learners is English while Afrikaans is
the medium of instruction in classes with White students. The school is classified as a parallel
medium38 as a result of the initiatives advocated by the Department of Education. At the U
school only two of the languages are used as languages of instruction.

38

Parallel Medium school: A school which uses two languages as medium of instruction.
49

Since the inception of the new alternative approach to the Apartheid system the
school has changed from an Afrikaans medium to a parallel medium format but the ethos of
the school conforms to the usual practices of the Apartheid order by marginalizing
indigenous languages. In an interview a Black learner said:
We are in an Afrikaans-English speaking school unless you‘re speaking half
the things are mostly in Afrikaans and then the others are in English. They do
try to include us and put some things in English but if you were to take a total
count of all the assemblies that have taken place and all the announcements
and actually count them, how many times do they speak English and for how
long do they speak Afrikaans.
The school started as an Afrikaans medium school only and through transformational
initiatives it was obliged to change into a parallel medium institution. The school uses Afrikaans
as a medium of instruction but there are other learners from indigenous language background
who are not accommodated. The African and Colored parents (the disadvantaged group during
Apartheid), are demanding the English medium of instruction for their children. One Black
English speaking learner said: ―The teachers are all Afrikaans speaking.‖
In an interview the learners explained how the school remains true to the historical
institutional structure of Afrikaans, White only school with separate classrooms for Black and
White learners. In another interview the learners explained how the school is structured and the
authority relationship:
Implications of language policy on classroom practice at U school
The implications of the South African language policy on educational provision are
generally far-reaching. Firstly, it is necessary to mention the effects upon the teaching of
English as a second language in an Afrikaans-medium South African school. I visited both
English and Afrikaans classes with the purpose of observing the practices. I found that all
50

classrooms had Afrikaans speaking teachers and there were no Black teachers and that no
teachers whose first language is English are employed by this school. The school has never
had any Black teachers or native English speaking teachers. The English-speaking learners
were mostly Black; a few of these children came from a different language background.
There were early signs and patterns, throughout my time at the U school that
Afrikaans was the language spoken more often than English, I was even advised by one
teacher to speak a little bit of Afrikaans. ―You must speak Afrikaans a bit,‖ she said. This
requirement sounded like an imposition to me. On the first day school of my visit to the
school I went to see the Grade 11 Head of Department she asked me to talk to the Black
learners coming to school late. I did not do it as it was not my area of responsibility; I had to
be a dispassionate observer.
A Black female learner remarked: ―Afrikaans is spoken throughout the day.‖
Expressing despair in what looks like a challenge, the learners find themselves at risk of
underachievement or falling behind their classmates. The learners have nothing to fall back
on because they are not taught by native speakers of any of the indigenous language or by
native speakers of English. ―We fall behind as to what they say; half the time we do not know
what is going on‖: said an English speaking Black learner. The Afrikaans language has a
negative connotation in the school. Most of the teacher‘s documents were written in
Afrikaans. One learner made me aware that the school was forced to change from Afrikaans
to English. The teachers did not necessarily like the transition from an Afrikaans medium to
a parallel medium. He had this to say about the school and what he thinks the school is
responding to: ―The government had to come in [intervene] and make them change into a
parallel medium‖.

51

The Voices of Learners
Languages have always been a contentious issue in education in South Africa,
from the drive for mother-tongue education to the ever pressing need to be able to use
international languages such as English. Speaking English and Afrikaans has always been
contested in the history of South Africa as reflected in the following statements. The
school has a racist history as a Black learner explained the history of the school and
explained how she felt about her school, ―With me when I first came into grade eight, this
school was known as a racist school. I didn‘t want to come here‖. Some of the White
learners stated that they were forced to learn English. Another perception was White
Afrikaans ―was fading away‖ one Afrikaans learner said commenting on what she
interpreted as the fading away of Afrikaans. Everyone prepares to speak English and that
Afrikaans was not preferred anymore.
Some of the White Afrikaans learners spoke to me about how they feel about
the school and their Black counterparts. When they talked about their fellow students, it
was in terms of ―others‖. Another Black learner stated:
Black learners at U school claim to be aware of the importance of English and
its economic future. Some of them stated that to be successful in South Africa you have to
know English. These students even predicted that their school would change into an
English medium institution. There are competing values on the existence of English and
Afrikaans as a language of instruction.
This is a controversy that has erupted as to whose language has to be used as a
medium of instruction at the school. Township and rural schools where African languages
are used as the medium of instruction will not have the same resources and expertise due
to the injustices and policies of the past that schools (formerly advantaged or

52

disadvantaged) will have the infrastructure or even motivation to accommodate more
languages
Based on the emphasis that they gave to the matter, the Black English speaking
learners definitely preferred to be taught in English. In all interviews, the Black learners
objected to Afrikaans dominating the school environment. This attitude towards Afrikaans
seems to have been common with the learners I interviewed. A Black English speaking
learner, who seems to be open minded and was proactive in promoting culture and using
his position as prefect39, said in an interview:
When it comes to staff like inter-high40 we need people who cheer up so it‘s always the
English kids who are loud, the Afrikaans kids are very reserved, we like expressing
ourselves and we like showing people and showing our talents. I am not putting Afrikaans
people in a box but they are very reserved and they like keeping to themselves and the
like.....cos [because] really we talk loud…
In almost all interviews the Afrikaans speaking learners made me aware that they
held this stereotype of Black people. One Afrikaans speaking White learner said, referring
to the Black English speaking learners: ―We get to know their languages we also know
that they are loud.‖ Her justification for this stereotype was that all Black learners‘
problems are attributed to the dysfunctionality of Black family life. She said they were
told by the teacher that Black people speak loudly. The explanation for this from the Black
learners is that they are not seen to be gossiping.

39

Prefect- Student Leaders belonging to Learners Representative Council

40

Inter high- Area high school competitions
53

There are many explanations given by the learners to illustrate the idea of
Afrikaans dominating at the school and how this affects their cross racial interaction. A
Black English speaking learner said:
It does, it really does but our school is different because the whole parallel medium, I was
not used to it. When I came in Grade 9, I really couldn‘t speak Afrikaans, it was weird, but
then my teacher Ms V, she helps us a lot and some kids were really racists, but it wasn‘t
their fault, and those ones left – it‘s just a few kids now where there are challenges in
Afrikaans and in English when working together.
The above explanation indicates how Black learners prefer parallel medium instruction as
compared to Afrikaans only instruction, and that some learners still have some challenges
working together. Most of the interviews with Black learners emphasized the language
differences and how this lack of English proficiency made the Afrikaans speaking learners
drift apart from the Black learners.
Teacher attitudes towards language of instruction
One teacher, who happened to be the only one with a doctoral degree in Afrikaans
at this school, suggested in an interview that the Black children in the school should be
taught in their mother tongue. The teacher (T141) said in an interview:
I firmly believe that the Black English speaking learners will get better
Mathematics results and Physical science results if people learn via their own
language….their mother tongue: and I think it‘s a problem in our country that
you haven‘t got Is Zulu and Susana…. [Setswana] you see all of those people
go to school in [he meant to say township or rural school] Even at Primary
level they start to use English and they cannot cope.

41

T1, T2, T3- Identifies the individual teachers who were interviewed.
54

The teacher continued to say:
I really think quite a lot of them don‘t simply understand the language well
enough to learn subjects like Mathematics properly and therefore I think there
is a great deal of benefit if you could learn through your own mother tongue
those kinds of subjects. I think not enough is being done for home language
schools and…later on in your career it doesn‘t matter that much coz their
probably [because] our second language or third language skills will be
developed well enough to cope.
The Afrikaans teacher blamed lack of interaction between the Afrikaans and English
speaking students on the differences between their language background, one of the reasons
why they do not mix and interact. One of the teachers who suggested that Black students be
taught in their mother tongue also remarked that Black people will think it is ―sort of
Apartheid again,‖ meaning that mother tongue instruction would be taking Black learners
back to the segregated schools in the Apartheid era. His contention seems to be promoting
the idea that language proficiency is the main reason that Black learners are not achieving.
There are differences noted by the learners, and there is the history of the learner‘s
influences, as to how the Black learners are treated and the White learners were given
preferential treatment. In an interview a Black learner attributes the resistance to change at
this school to the historical occurrences of the past and present segregated structure of the
schools.
This suggests that there is more at play here than just language proficiency. The
student saw the injustice of having all Afrikaans speaking teachers but the teacher, however,
failed to see the different mismatches between home languages and languages of learning,
teaching techniques in this school, and the learners‘ preferences. The learners had a noncompromising attitude about the opportunities available in the world of work if they were
55

taught in English. They knew the disadvantages they have of achieving their future goals if
they were taught in Afrikaans or any of the indigenous languages. ―The world is English,‖
said one Black learner expressing a preference for English as the language of Learning and
Teaching (LOLT).
When the Afrikaans speaking learners were asked if it is a problem to have English
speaking Black learners in their school they all said, ―Yes it is‖. The White learners had an
impression that the school was an institution for Afrikaans speakers. The White learners
uniformly gave the above answer.
When I arrived at this school, the teachers and the principal explained to me that
structurally this was a parallel medium42. As I spent more time at the school it was clear that
the prevailing environment and what was clearly promoted was Afrikaans. In explaining the
structural design of the classroom in Grade 11 an Afrikaans speaking learner explained in this
manner: ―We are actually Afrikaans people; Afrikaans learners are separate from English
learners. We are only together in our registered period but, yeah, you can say we sometimes,
we do mix sometimes‖.
The learners were aware of the separate classrooms and the limited opportunities for
Black and White students to interact. Despite the government's commitment to
multilingualism and the promotion of language rights in all spheres of public life, this school
does not totally reflect the multilingual nature of South Africa. Another example from an
interview was when an Afrikaans speaking learner said what he understood the school to be
and expressed what sounded as though the Afrikaans speakers were making a compromise to
the extent that the school is allowing Black English speaking learners to be at the school. In

42

Parallel Medium- A school where English and Afrikaans are used as Language of
Instruction
56

an interview, during which Afrikaans learners explained how they got to the school one said:
―I wanted to be in an Afrikaans school…‖ He repeated. ―I just wanted an Afrikaans school.
―I‘m Afrikaner‖.
A Black learner recognized that the government made it compulsory for schools to
desegregate and those schools are undergoing a process of desegregation. The Black learners
see an additional need for the school to be compelled to change. It was not the school‘s sole
decision to open the doors for Black learners. An example of racial logic that opened my
eyes is when the school categorizes the Black learners as English speakers it denies them
their actual identity - they are from a background of indigenous language and other origins,
like Indian. Categorization provides the White authorities with a comfort zone where they can
label all non-Afrikaans students as English speakers instead of recognizing them as Black or
African. One day in the staff room I overheard teachers talking in Afrikaans and referring to
―Engelse sprekended kinders43‖ To this Afrikaans speaking White teachers dentifying with
the school is important, and it seems that this comforts him to know that he is an Afrikaner in
a school that is dominated by Afrikaans speaking staff members and that the school is
structured to separate English and Afrikaans speakers.
The existence and dominance of Afrikaans in the school suggests that the teachers are
using the power of this language to privilege one group of students over the others. The Black
learners are well aware of the school‘s history and they see as racist the continued dominance
of Afrikaans as the LOLT in the school.
An Afrikaans teacher and his colleagues suggested that Black learners should be
taught in their African languages because they believe ―they might understand better.‖ I

43

Englese spekende kinders mean Afrikaans language meaning for English speaking
learners only.
57

shared with him what the Afrikaans learner said that Afrikaans was fading away and that the
Afrikaans language will be lost because everyone seems to want to speak English. The
teacher defended with vigor the need to retain Afrikaans language.
The lingua franca, like they say it, is becoming English, the language of use,
but I really think that they speak from their point of view and this is a parallel
medium school, but if you can speak to somebody say in Waterkloof44 where
you‘ve got only Afrikaans, then you might get another view point, and they
also say that because and they might be right then, the Universities tend to
assume English much more than in the past……
When I asked which instruction he was referring to, he said in response:
Ja45, except like the University of the Northwest and Potchefstroom campus,
where you‘ve got quite a strong contingent of Afrikaans and the Universities
policy also quite outspoken to their specific campus to retain Afrikaans, not
that they will refuse English students, but they will… Like they say protect the
Afrikaans character of that University.
This teacher did not believe that the Afrikaans speaking learners at this school expressed fear
that Afrikaans did not have competing value with English. He was sure that Afrikaans is kept
alive in the Universities that he mentioned. The other Afrikaans colleague explained to me
that they did not want to lose their culture and language. They blamed the government for
introducing measures that were not practicable. The Principal said in the school‘s year book:
―I really think that my colleagues in the Department do not know what they are doing.‖

44

Waterkloof: An upscale residential area in Pretoria South Africa, dominated by the
Afrikaner.
45
Ja! An Afrikaans exclamation for: Yes.
58

Other teachers (T1, T2, T3) shared the same view of retaining their own language as a
priority, emphasizing the fact that English speaking Black learners were losing their culture
and language by being in the former White schools. There is a general fear of losing one‘s
language, particularly the Afrikaans language. The teacher, supported by the school structure
of separate classrooms for English and Afrikaans speakers, explained why the school
structure has created a segregated environment. Keeping to its Apartheid ethos and sustaining
it (Naidoo, 1996). In an interview, the Afrikaans speaking teachers emphasized that an effort
is made to keep the Afrikaner culture in place. ―We are fighting‖ said an Afrikaans White
teacher. ―We even do it outside the school. We go to the laager to keep Afrikaans alive‖.
There is also a false pretext of sympathizing with the English speaking Black learners by
claiming that they were not coping with the English language that is their medium of
instruction and that they are losing their ―tribes‖ and culture. Another teacher (T2)
professing knowledge of the past also makes reference to Black people‘s identity as
belonging to tribes. ―They are losing their tribes when they come here‖ she said. Black
people would remain in their ―reserves;‖ residential areas that were designed by the
Apartheid laws.
This statement by Teacher 2 is clearly meant to nurture the patterns of the past when
the Broederbond formed the Federation of Afrikaner Cultural Organizations, following the
example provided by the Christian National Schools, to develop a sense of pride and
accomplishment in the Afrikaans culture. Segregation seems to be a preference at the school
despite the government mandate to open doors to all learners and cultures. Instead of using a
language policy to the advantage of all learners, the school, through the attitudes of the
teachers and with its educational practices, is in conflict with new theories on how to assist
learners who may not be proficient in English (Sipho, 2006).

59

For the Afrikaans teachers and learners the Afrikaans language stands at the centre of
their goal and their emphasis is on ethnicity. I saw this expression as a symptom of their fear
of losing their language. The School Governing Body (SGB) governs the management of its
school; and, among other responsibilities decides the language policy of the school, which,
according to the Department of Education, must promote multilingualism. The teacher‘s
remarks about the learners showed that they had low expectations about Black learners:
―They cannot cope with the language.‖ But with the Afrikaans learners it was all smooth
sailing according to the teachers.
In my observation it was clear that there is an over representation of Black learners in
subjects like travel and tourism and arts class. The White Afrikaans chooses Accounting and
stated that the Black learners were not competent in English and that the Black
learners were doing however well in Afrikaans, which was Information Technology (IT)
classes. There was only one Black learner in an IT class. The grade 11 classes are made up
of three classes of Black English speakers (134) and two classes of Afrikaans speakers.
This allows the School Governing Body (SGB) to choose a language of Instruction for the
learners and the SGB chooses a language that represents the Afrikaans learners. This is a
violation of Black learners‘ rights by not including one or two of the indigenous
languages.
The second major theme explored the relationship between language, power, and
privilege. There are two fundamental sources from which language derives its power, that
is, the ability of the individuals or groups to realize their intentions by means of
undermining the marginalized indigenous languages. The school under study seems not to
give any official recognition to the nine indigenous languages and instead recognizes
English and Afrikaans only. Language empowerment is the ability of individuals or groups
to impose their agendas on others (disempowerment of the latter).When a language is
60

representation of culture and the agendas too can be facilitated through Afrikaans.
(Foley,2003).
The following statistical information shows the language distribution as illustrated
by Statistic South Africa of the languages spoke in the province where the school is
located. Gauteng Province - isiZulu (21%), Afrikaans (14%), Sesotho (13%), English
(12%), English, the country's lingua franca, is the language of business, politics, and
modern communication media, but ranks fifth out of eleven in home usage.
The U school seems to be experiencing when an ‗influx‘ of learners not only from
different racial groups but also from linguistic backgrounds. A Black English speaking
student expressed some excitement in realizing that Black students are becoming a
majority, particularly in terms of racial and linguistic background:
In matriculation46, we will be the first matrics where there is

more than one English

class because our grade is the only grade where English dominates Afrikaans. I guess
that‘s why we are so good.
In an interview a learner expressed his feeling about Afrikaans by making me aware
that the world was becoming English and their excitement about their emerging majority
in the classrooms and in the school. ―I think it is more of an advantage to us because for
Afrikaans kids the world is English. It‘s something that you cannot avoid.‖ He spoke
about what he saw as an advantage in learning through English as the medium of
instruction
So I think that for them is more of a disadvantage. If I was Afrikaans I would go to
English class because once you leave our school, the world so English, it‘s a recognized

46

Matric- a completing class (last year school at high school or grade 12 ) in the South
African education system
61

language so I think it‘s more of a disadvantage towards them, I think it is the parents who
choose.
The future of Black English was a motivating factor to the English speaking learners as
expressed in the following statement
In five years the school is going to be 70/30. In ten years it‘s going to be 90/10, 90 percent
English and 10 percent Afrikaans, and I think in 15 years time our school is going to be
purely English, maybe sooner if the government steps in, you know, ‗cos (because) they
stepped in and changed our school to parallel medium, the government stepped in and
changed it, so it wasn‘t like by choice.
His explanation about how he feels about Afrikaans:
There is no option, you are born into a setup‖ meaning the Afrikaans setup, the Afrikaans
learners are born into the racially discriminatory society ...this English speaking learner
referred to the Afrikaans speaking schoolmates. That even when they grow up in an
Afrikaans speaking background they can chose English.
The Afrikaans white speaking learner made a point about the fading away of
Afrikaans language. Meanwhile the Afrikaans teacher (T1) continued to make a point that
the Afrikaans Speaking Universities are and will remain a strong contingent of
Afrikanedom.47 The teacher reaffirmed ideas of segregation, which supported ideologies
of the old Apartheid South Africa that emphasized competence in one‘s mother tongue.
Several teachers I spoke with taught to the Black learners as a Subject area and second
language. Expressing a camouflaged concern I found this a double standard in terms of
which language is promoted. The Afrikaans language was advocated by the Afrikaans

47

Afrikaner - Afrikaans, literally, African, from Latin Africanus. Date: 1824. : a South
African of European descent whose native language is Afrikaans
62

teachers and 100% of the teachers are Afrikaans speaking. The SGB also is dominated by
Afrikaans speakers who reinforce the commitment to instruction in that language. In trying
to find out who has to make compromises in the effort to advance this process of
inclusion, he stated:
I think the government should do more A…maybe money must be funded, because what
we have at this stage is either Afrikaans speaking schools or English speaking schools. We
don‘t have schools or if we have them it‘s a big minority of schools with other Africans
languages are predominate and…as the main language of the school the language of
teaching at the school and I think what should be done to get schools say Zulu as the main
language.
He continued to say:
I don‘t know if people will say that puts us a little bit back to the Apartheid system. I hope
they don‘t say it like this….What I see especially for people is to learn the different
learning areas or subjects through their own home language because…
The Afrikaans learners have an advantage being taught in Afrikaans by
Afrikaans teachers. He, in referring to Black learners , added ―I am sure they will master it
better, (referring to Black learners ) but now they‘ve got to learn through English and not
all of them cope with English. Does this help cross-racial interaction, not the way the
suggestion goes?‖ This remark emerged from a meeting that was held in the morning
where one of the teachers expressed a concern about how English-speaking learners were
not coping when taught in the medium of English. Again, it does not look like he realized
he had no competence in the language himself, and some of the Afrikaans speaking
teachers were struggling with English as their second language.
63

The teachers were so overwhelmed with an influx of Black learners in their
school. The expression that the Black learners were not coping because they are taught in
English contrasts with what one teacher said, about the Black learners doing well in
Afrikaans language as a subject area. Both English and Afrikaans are third or fourth
language for some of the Black learners especially those who come from indigenous
language backgrounds. One wonders whether the same thing could be said about the
Afrikaans learners. This does not appear to be helping cross racial interaction?
When I asked this Afrikaans teacher about the cross racial interaction of the
students he confirmed that there was none, he said:
I think there is not enough interaction. I even see it here where we do have
different cultures in the same school, which they stay too much in their own groups. I
think they don‘t interact, as they should with exception.
A Black learner stated when referring to the cross racial interaction:
No I think (he pauses) because they… we the English Black learners we try
our best to be friendly to them but they, they don‘t want that or they don‘t do
the same‖.
My day-to-day interactions with the students revealed that English and Afrikaans
speaking students did not see eye to eye on many socio political issues, including race and
racism. ―When they speak negatively about Mandela, I tell them he is my uncle,‖ said a
Black English speaking learner. I was struck by their lack of interaction at break (recess). The
learners would go in different directions and group themselves along racial lines that are
obviously Black or White groups. It was during the interview session that the learners
expressed their deepest concerns and appeared to have been happy to have a chance to talk
64

about the subject. One student asked if I wanted to see their classroom, she said there are
different classes, White and Black; she continued to explain it in this manner; ―there English
and Afrikaans only classes, they are different‖, she said in the hallway while she was helping
me to find the Life Orientation teacher. They seemed to know that because the school used to
be an Afrikaans school it has a reputation of being racist. While students and adults talked
about racism no one addressed the racism inherent and hidden in the act of denying the use
and recognition of indigenous home languages at the school.
Language of instruction does not seem to be structured in was that promotes or
encourage cross-racial interaction. One teacher said in an interview, ―there are too many
languages.‖
Language of Instruction and the Future
In an interview a Black learner expressed his feeling about Afrikaans by making me
aware that the world was becoming English. There is a general believe among learners
(especially Black learners) that the world is becoming English. English and Afrikaans
learners expressed similar opinions about the importance of English and Afrikaans as their
medium of instruction. The Afrikaans learner had this to say about how she understands the
popularity of English: ―Everyone wants to speak English even in an Afrikaans school.‖
The future of English as the language of business was a motivating factor to the English
speaking learners, causing them to want to be taught in English rather than Afrikaans. In his
prediction the same English speaking learner said: ―If I was Afrikaans I would go to English
class because once you leave our school, the world so English, it‘s a recognized language so I
think it‘s more of a disadvantage towards them [Afrikaans learners].‖
The possible awareness of Black learners in preference of English as a language of survival
is expressed by a Black learner how the school changed to a parallel medium, he said: ―The
government stepped in and changed it, so it wasn‘t like by choice.‖ The English learner, in his
65

continued explanation about how he feels about Afrikaans, said: “There is no option; you are
born into a setup‖ (referring to the Afrikaans learners).
The English speaking learner referred to the Afrikaans speaking schoolmates that even
when they grow up in an Afrikaans speaking backgrounds they can choose English. ―They
choose their (referring to the Afrikaans learners) language because if you are [sic] brought up in
Afrikaans, you can choose to go English class and get your education in English than choosing
Afrikaans.‖ He said this trying to illustrate that it‘s Afrikaans speaking parents who got them into
being monolingual and that according to this learner there is a realization that the Afrikaans
learners are marginalized by the parents and the way the school is structured.

The new

consequence is that the Afrikaners are made to believe that Afrikaans is superior or more
important than other languages, especially more than the indigenous languages because they are
not part of the curriculum in the school.
In trying to find out who has to help in an effort to promote this process of inclusion a
White Afrikaans speaking teacher had this to say: ―I think the government should do more
because, what we…maybe money must be funded, because what we have at this stage is we have
either Afrikaans speaking school or English speaking schools‖.
While the new Constitution of South Africa recognizes the break of marginalizing
various aspects of life this Afrikaans teacher chooses to ignore the changes in other languages
especially which were not recognized as important. He makes suggestions which belong to the
character and organization of the divide and rule practices of the Apartheid regime. He still
believes the school should be separated:
We don‘t have schools or if we have it‘s a big minority schools with other
Afrikaans languages and…as the main language of the school the language of
teaching at the school and I think what should be done to get schools say Zulu
as the main language.
66

The teacher seems to ignore the consequences of the Apartheid era. During morning
meetings, teachers discuss problems and concerns they have in the classroom. In particular a
bilingual teacher at this school (which means she speaks both English and Afrikaans), had a
concern she posed by faculty meeting where they discuss their day to day agenda..
The Afrikaner‘s ethos is retained through the maintenance of Afrikaans language and
philosophy of life. She claimed that Black learners were not coping when taught through
English. Another teacher remarked that former White schools are becoming 90% Black. She
further stated ―We are fighting.‖ This teacher explained that the Afrikaans speaking people
were fighting to retain their Afrikaans language. ―We organize meetings. We do it even during
public holidays.‖
Again it does not appear that he realized he had limited competence in the language
himself. When I asked this teacher about the cross racial interaction of the learners he
confirmed that there was none: ―I think there is not enough interaction. I even see it here
where we do have different cultures in the same school, which they stay too much in their
own groups. I think they don‘t interact, as they should with exceptions.‖ He agrees that there
is no interaction as a result of the language differences but suggest a further perpetuation of
Black learners being taught in their mother tongue (each of the nine official indigenous
languages).
In an interview with a Life Orientation Teacher, she/he explained that the values and
practices of Afrikaans and English speaking learners are different. They are different because
of the language background and other factors like socio – economics status. South Africa has
had a racially divided past which means the learners have to adjust to each other and co-exist
side by side in the classroom. About the behavior of learners: ‗The Afrikaans learners are

67

more peaceful. “Hulle is nie voedig”48 There are two or more ways that subject choice is
relevant in the present data. First, the learners are deprived of learning challenging and
substantial course, which will lead them to intellectual career field.
.

There is no history at the school and yet the subject would help me with a
combination of my subject to choose law as a career field. ― I wanted to be a
lawyer.

Secondly, they are tracked into following softer subject careers, which will take up
employment into lesser challenging careers, like travel and tourism. The black learners are
not allowed to choose subject areas for learning at Grade 11 and 12. The school allows those
in Grade 10 to choose the subjects they want to take in class but when they get to Grade 11
the parents lose the opportunity to help their children to make choices in relation to their
career aspirations because the school decides as to who has goes into subject areas because
the school allows teachers to do the subject or learning choice for the learners. . I spoke to the
teacher who helps the learners in this regard, she said: ―We look at their performance and
make a selection for them‖.
Black learners stated ―Before I came to the U school. I was at a school where we are
truly mixed and when I came to this there was such racial segregation. I did not understand
why… because I did not live through Apartheid so why should I be angry at people?‖
The learners complained that the language used in the school is Afrikaans. The Black
learners‘ parents do not understand Afrikaans and at the parents meetings they are left behind
because of the language barrier. A learner said: ―Our parents come to school for parents
meetings and Afrikaans is spoken all the way. Even when they pass jokes our parents do not
understand them. ‖

48

Hulle is voedig: Afrikaans word for violence meaning the black learners are violent
68

There are two fundamental sources from which language derives its power, i.e., the
ability of the individuals or groups to realize their intentions by means of forcing it on others.
Language empowerment or conversely, the ability of individuals or groups to impose their
agendas on others results in disempowerment of the latter.

―I did not think the school will

handle the idea of many languages. I am saying this because of the surroundings where we
live—Centurion, Pretoria, Tshwane, it will never work‖ said the Black English-speaking
learner from those interviewed.
But in this school there is a document that indicates that there are learners from most
parts of South African provinces and other countries of the world. It posits that all things are
beginning to be relatively equal in the linguistic distribution or might turn out to be even
more divergent in the next decade or so.

The learners predicted by saying this in an

interview:
This school will one day be English. In five years, the school is …going to be
70/50. In ten years it‘s going to be 90/10, 90 English and 10 percent
Afrikaans, and I think in 15 years time our school is going to be purely
English, maybe sooner if the government steps in, you know, cos (because)
they stepped in and changed our school to parallel medium.
Thus despite the Apartheid government‘s policy of separating South Africans
according to their ethnic and language orientation, the language distribution still shows a
remarkable diversity.(see Chisholm and Mahomet study). In turn, any bilingual education
program in South Africa will have to take into consideration the distribution of languages.
The school under study seems to be encountering and adjusting to an influx of learners not
only from different races but also from linguistic background. In an explanation this student
expressed some excitement in realizing that they are becoming a majority.

69

In matric49, we will be the first matrics where there is more than one English
class because our grade is the only grade where it dominates Afrikaans. I
guess that‘s why we are so good.
A learner stated when making reference to the cross racial
interaction:
No I think…..because they, we the English learners we try our best to be
friendly to them but they, they don‘t want that or they don‘t do the same if
you look in the classes there is always that beef (crowd).There is always that
separation. That is when we divide in groups, there and there (she points at
groups).You will never find this huge clan of guys and girls chatting, doing
stuff together, the separation.
The Black learner continues to give expression of despair on what she understands is
an answer what she sees possibilities of cross racial interaction at the school. ―They at a
different level (referring to White learners) It‘s not level per se ―it‘s a different mindset.‖
There is emphasis of differentness in the learners. She repeatedly says they are different.
―They are on a different mindset‖ she said with emphasis. When asked about their
experience in the school, the learners said: ―There‘s always that separation‖. She
continues: ―Separation. That‘s where we divide into groups,
Separation seems to be emphasized by the learners. They even say it in different
ways and different words. A Register Class, a class where black and white learners meet
for fifteen minutes and to register their names for the day. This is the only time when
black and white learners meet. This structure was put in place by the principal, who in an
interview explained that by introducing the register class, it will contribute to the

70

integration process for the school. In my observation the register class conflict often
occurs in the register class as well as in sports interaction.
In the register class, the teacher allowed the school prefect to address the class in
accordance with the learner‘s the teachers had an ongoing problem in the classroom that she
could not stop. She called the Assistant Principal to come and help sort it out. The Afrikaans
speaking learners continued to argue even when reprimanded by the teacher. The issue was
that one of them had broken a door, and she had come to settle the disagreement hand help
identify who broke the door. This behavior is a major school violation when learners do not
respect the schools property.
I observed discussions spearheaded by the Afrikaans speaking males, Black males and
females. White Afrikaans female speakers were passive in this register class. In an interview
they said they choose not to talk because the class it always ends up rowdy and in conflict.
One Afrikaans speaking learner said that the Black female learners were loud, and rowdy.
―You know they are very loud and we do not like it‖, said one Afrikaans learner referring to
Black learners‖.
When asked how learners perceive what they see the situation to be? A Black English
Learners said in an interview: ―White people do not want to change. They will remain that
way. At an assembly when a Black learner has faulted they announce in Afrikaans what the
learner has done.‖
Another Black learner stated, ―The discussion was such that they insist on doing
‗fiery‘50. ―Their parents are racist. They are simply ignorant‖.
In an interview the White Afrikaans speaking learner explained that the school for her
is average. She is not too excited about being at school. She also complains about teachers

50

Fiery: An Afrikaans game
71

yelling at the learners in a Math class. A Black English speaking learner mentioned
challenges of culture and how the teachers handle these conflicts between learners of
different racial groups. The White Afrikaans learners said: ―Its different cultures, we are also
stereotyped, they generalize us.‖
The register class helps but it is designed to last for just 15 minutes a day. She
continues to say: ―It is a momentary thing‖. The learner sees the act by the Principal as
―racist‖. The problem is that they do they understand the occurrence of being ―racist‖ and the
impact thereof. I asked to get clarity as to what she meant by ―they‖. The Afrikaans speaking
learners perception of the school is different from that of the English speaking Black .
In an interview the Black English speaking learners, gives an account of what happens
when the students fight and how the school handles learners in conflict. He said: ―Fights
break out between Black or White. The Principal takes sides. It is useless to report a case to
the Principal because the Principal takes sides with White learners.‖
Socially, it‘s to a point where they will say something. You will hear by the
way they speak-that they said something very hurtful. And they will say it in
Afrikaans. I don‘t understand why they don‘t have the audacity to say it in
English.
This unfair behavior demonstrated by people in authority appears to make conflict grow into
a silent epidemic. A Black male learner discussed his experience with White learners as
follows: ―Those who play rugby have a superiority complex because they think they are
better than Black learners‖. From this discussion it appears that Black English learners
perceive the cultural notions of teaching as authoritarian, that is the style of discipline . The
teachers spend much of the class time yelling and using words that were very disturbing to
the ear. Time for instruction was spent on reprimand. The opportunity to learn is lost because
of lack of time and classroom management. I was in class for observation when a teacher
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yelled, ―Shut up! Shut your big mouth‖. It appears that the culture of authority is
authoritarian and racist. The majority of discipline was applied to Black learners. Whereas
the Afrikaans speaking learners have a different relationship with this authority oftentimes it
is a cordial relationship. Occasionally Afrikaans speaking learners call the teachers the
‗tanie51‘ whereas the relationship of teachers with Black learners appears to be authoritarian.
Another example was given by Black English speaking female learners who
mentioned that the rugby players bullied everyone in the hallway during class intervals. This
behavior was brought to the attention of the Principal. Nobody took action against the rugby
players. When ongoing racial conflict occurs and the teachers yell at the learners, the register
class does not serve its intended outcome. If in fact the learners are to express their
differences and learn to cope with their experiences; that this does not appear to be occurring.
Thus positive cross racial interaction is impossible especially when they are kept in separate
classrooms for most of their school days and they have only fifteen minutes of the register
class.
The English speaking Black learner‘s are disillusioned but stay focused on getting an
education. The statement ―We come to learn‖ was repeated a number of times. In one
instance the Black English speaking learners said how difficult it is for their parents to
believe them when they tell on their White teachers. At break time are the learners are
conspicuously divided into groups. White Afrikaans speaking learners are on one side and
Black learners on the other side. These learners break into segregated several are on one side
of the and Black English speaking learners are on the other side of the classroom at this
school. Stereotyping remarks from teachers were reported by several Black English speaking

51

―Tanie‖- Afrikaans word , shortened for aunt
73

learners from teachers: ―Ek is gat vol‖ ―you Blackies‖52were commonly used reprimand or
words of discipline. ―I do not understand you; you are blank faces‘ the learners quoted the
Principal in his Economic class. The Black English learners said in a conversation when they
explained how they got to be taught by the Principal. ―We were kicked out of class because
the teachers did not like some of us.‖
The White Afrikaans speaking learners realize how protected they are at the same
time they know how hostile the other teachers are towards the Black learners. ―Hulle is
rastig.‖53 Passive resistance and isolation results when segregation forbids the learners from
getting to know each other, accepting and embracing each other‘s differences.
The teachers are not aware of what is happening across cultures. Their interest is
guarding against losing power and pressure on their own Afrikaans language. One Black
learners remarked about the learners‘ response to the situation they find themselves in.‖ They
do not stand up for themselves.‖ This is in response to a teacher who advised him to leave
school. ―He is racist, said the learner. If I were a White learner he would advise me to go to
his class, however he advised me to leave the school. In observing whether other cultural
norms are treated, I found disrespect for other people‘s differences. While the way of life of
the Afrikaans speaker was fully displayed.
Black learners understand the structural history of the school under study. The Black
learner explains it in this manner: The school was known to be racist. They changed to a
parallel medium. The Black learners made this observation:
If you were to count the total amount of all the assemblies that have taken
place and the entire announcement, how many times have they spoken in

52

53

Blackie: A derogatory and racist way of calling black people.
―Hulle is rastig- An Afrikaans saying, meaning they are racist
74

English and how long do they speak English? It does not compare with the
racial way they do Afrikaans. ―I think because the school was built as an
Afrikaans school, and that they speak to us in a language that they understand.
They try to resist but there are those who open up.
When the Black English speaking learners comment on the historical background,
they attribute the fact that the teachers are all Afrikaans speaking which results in a lack of
cross racial interaction. I grew to know the students better, from day to day. I was often
moved by their lack of interaction at break. I also observed a situation when they go home. It
was during the interview session that the learners expressed their deepest concerns and
appeared to have been happy to have a chance to talk about the subject. They said they knew
that the school was Afrikaans only and that it was racist.
The school was originally built as Afrikaans school as a result the teacher‘s are
Afrikaans. In 2000 when the first English class was accepted; and then to Grade 9 and 10, on
racial background. Meaning Black learners were accepted in the school. It is still there
(racism). I not subjected to it very much I have White friends and all that but it still there.
A number of variables, such as scheduling, learning areas, discipline, attendance and
promotion policies, testing practices, extracurricular activities are further generated by policy
were mainly symbolic and representative of the Afrikaans culture. It is interesting to observe
which language is mainly used in implementing the said variables. The relationship the
student and the teachers in the classroom and out of the classroom was examined as an area
of cross racial interactions.
Some of the internal organizational variables are influenced by the staff and faculty
and the Afrikaans Head of Department54 for Grade 10, 11, 12. The Afrikaans teachers must

54

HOD: Head of Department at School Level
75

themselves implement what they themselves have no understanding of, said the Principal in
an interview. I observed that the teachers apply disciplinary measures at the school to keep
order. Despite the school‘s official agenda, discipline appears to be a priority.
In an interview with Black English speaking learner, she said:
They try to include us but sometimes you feel the difference. You sense that no,
we‘re not included as the White people are. Let‘s say the Afrikaners, because
yes, we are in an Afrikaans-English speaking school unless you‘re speaking half
the things are mostly in Afrikaans and then the others are in English.
A Black female prefect had this to say about her relationship with White Afrikaner
teachers:
There is favoritism for the Afrikaans. There is a lot of favoritism. The teachers
are more relaxed with them referring to the Afrikaans learners, more on to,
you know, ―This is the work, I‘m going to do something else.‖ As with us,
they will not. They do not trust us. They do not trust us, really. I feel they do
not trust us but I mean, we are all not mischievous.
On how discipline of students was handled, the Black learners said:
The Afrikaans classmates act up just as much as we do but our thing is more
blown up into a huge thing because there‘s also at that level where, you know
what, these are English speaking children or something like that. I‘m not sure
what‘s going on exactly but ours is blown up into a more thing. Afrikaans
learners are mischievous just as much as we are.
The learners from a learner‘s representative council (LRC) arrange activities or prefects tend
to respond to what they say they are interested in.
He continues to say: ―I think that day the fact that there were various things to be
done this‖
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In an interview I asked the school principal whether this inappropriate language above
is allowed to be used in a school setting. He replied ―You must understand that that these
teachers are handling Black learners for the first time.‖
The instruction between Afrikaans and English classes is completely different. The
race hierarchies in the two different classes are prevalent in the school. Black English
learners are in the majority in the English language class are Black learners with less than
five English speaking. White learners taught by a White Afrikaans speaking teachers.
The Afrikaans speaking teachers complained about the influx of Black learners into
―their schools‖ They stated and that these Black English speaking learners are were not doing
well, that they are struggling with the English language. There was no indication that this
remark referred to all learners.
I explained the advantages created by the way the school is structured. The awareness
of the student and the kind of treatment they receive from the school and their White
counterparts that creates a problem for cross-racial interaction. A female Black English
Learner reported the following:
Social interaction, Black and White, you know we get along. We do get along
to a certain extent but I mean, even now as a prefect and youth counsel, you
interact with them but there‘s still that barrier of ―You know what, I‘m not
going to be seen with you anymore or something like that but you talk and you
have fun and you- but there‘s still that kind of thing that‘s there and I don‘t
know why it‘s there.
The idea of Afrikaans teachers frequently construed the Black learners‘ cultural
behavior as disobedience. A Black female prefect explained what the principal said to the
English-speaking economics class. ―When we look down –they do not understand, they
reprimanded us, saying; ‗Look me in the eye.‖ There is a lack of cultural understanding that
77

feeds this problem: ―There is an understanding by English speaking African learners. Mr. R
tries to support. He reads from the Bible at assembly English and Afrikaans is used‖.
―The parents are resistant as well‖.

A female learner had an Afrikaans female friend whose

father would not allow her to be visited by this Black female learner. This school was
pronounced as a religious school but no choice is made for other religious backgrounds. I
wanted to find out about religion, and how there was no religious diversity - a teacher told
me: ―We tell the parents that this is a Christian school.‖
One Black learner made this observation. ―I found in the school that nobody stands up
for themselves, they leave things to happen, even when they are treated in a racist manner.‖
An Afrikaans speaking teacher remarked as he passed where I was speaking with a student, I
asked. When he saw the boy outside, the teachers remark was. ―Why don‘t you leave
school‖?
. One positive expression I got from the learners was the level of safety they feel in
the school. They said this because of information they get about other schools, where it is not
safe. The Black learners explained how safe the school was comparing the school with other
schools she knows. ―There is a sense of safety that the learners feel as compared to other
schools. It is safe environment‖ (safety to her is teachers and friends). They ―feel at home.‖
When the Afrikaans learners were asked if they would be comfortable learning in English,
they said: ―It‘ll take longer to explain something. Then you have to explain in Afrikaans and
then English. In an interview I made the Black learners aware of the 11 official languages in
South Africa; I said: ―Do you think your school will one day accommodate others? White
Afrikaans speaking learners said ―No, No, I don‘t think so‖ When I asked why that was the
case: Why? Why not? He said ―Because our school is full‖ I asked the same question to the
Black English speaking learners. A Black learner responded: ―The Afrikaans speakers, they
love their space‖ Black people are expressive. The school tries to include us. ―We feel that
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they try.‖ I asked English speaking learners how many times she thinks Afrikaans and
English is spoken, She said: ―It is Afrikaans and 60‘s of the time and with English it is 40%.
In explaining at assembly, what the Principal says on occasions where there is a factor of
discipline; an announcement is made at assemblies. ―Afrikaans is a battle. Others fall behind
what they say.” In explaining how often Afrikaans a Black English learners said:
They speak mostly in Afrikaans and we fall behind in what they say, We are
excluded when that happens--It‘s all racial. ‗When there is a problem, or a
Black learner has gotten into trouble, they speak and announce in Afrikaans.
To me indicates that they are upset and angry with us. When it is a White
learner they speak in both English and Afrikaans.
I asked White Afrikaans learners what he thought was good about the school He said,
―There is more discipline. The school invited cops when they found one boy who had drugs.‖
I asked a White Afrikaans female speaking learner about cross racial interactions. She said,
―We learn about each other‘s culture. We learn how to talk to each other.‖ She expressed the
benefits of being with Black English speaking learners. When I asked her about whether this
Afrikaans speaking had friends from the Afrikaans speaking class meaning learners from her
own race group. She said:
Some White kids are mean. White kids are not friendly. Black learners make
me feel good. Black learners about what goes on in their family. Culture
mixing with Blacks has changed my life‖. Her emphasis was what she thinks
was the cause of problems learners had: ―You know with apartheid, God did
not make us discriminate. On Monday the Principal said that Whites and
Blacks should accept each other.
This White Afrikaans learner seems to know that separateness is unfair and that being
kept apart from each other is not what God designed. I further asked what are the cross racial
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interactions of Black and White learners in a former White school of South Africa? She
stated emphatically, ―separate classrooms through does not help cross interaction.‖
The English and Afrikaans learners‘ are in separate classrooms. The conflict between
them arises in the register class. Ideas clash and spaces are contested. There is a constant
clash of learner‘s class because there are no guidelines as to what to do when there is conflict.
The onus is on all of the learners to figure it out. The learners did not report any smooth
operation in the register class.
It seems that teaching is repressive. It like a military camp, teaching appears
repressive in Black or English speaking classrooms. In my observation all the learners‘
students kept looking at me to possibly observe whether I was paying attention-- or whether I
see what they see. The teacher struggled to use English. Black learners seemed to be happy
that I was an eyewitness to what is happening in the classroom. It seemed as if the Black
learners were happy to see me at the school. I was the only Black professional in the vicinity.
Ethnic Identity and Language Retention
During my encounter with the teachers in their classrooms, they would not hesitate to
tell me how the Black learners were misbehaving. They suggested that I find time to come
and talk to them. The teachers remarked that the lack of discipline for Black learners was as a
result of the ill-discipline from the Black families. They blamed the challenges of discipline
on the Black family background.
The biggest challenge for former ―White only‖ schools of South Africa is the ability
of school to implement change. ―The government should do something,‖ remarked one
teacher. The school as a unit does very little to encourage cross racial interaction, especially
through their approach to discipline structure and language separation. On observation I made
was that most of the learners who were sent to the Principal‘s office were Black males. Racist
remarks in the classroom made the learners angry and some got discouraged, but they held on
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to the value of getting an education. One wonders what goes on inside learners when they are
stereotyped by teachers and fed with racist remarks in a school. On the sports grounds the
Black learners sing the usual songs that originate from their township soccer and other related
games. These Black English speaking learners cheered their fellow learners. The Black
learners got into trouble. The Principal called the Black male learners to his office because of
an incident that occurred during a sports competition when they had an inter-high school
competition. A Black English speaking male quoted the Principal to have said: ―So you were
singing your stupid songs‖. The White Afrikaans students did not know or did not have a
chance of knowing the songs because there is no soccer at school. The sport played is rugby.
There is an obvious division of sports based on race at their school. A question was asked of
the Afrikaans speaking teaching staff and faculty: asked‖How can we expect an African child
who is only taught about the glory of Afrikaans people to acquire the motivating passion of
reconciliation?
Languages unlike sports at the school are recognized by the Constitution of the
Republic of South Africa. Rugby represents a certain racial group--the Afrikaans speaking.
Most Black English-speaking learners know that they are not liked by the teachers; they feel
like they are treated differently. Black learners said in an interview that they are stereotyped
as loud and under-achieving. The fact that they perceived as ‗loud‘ prevailed at this campus.
In several interviews the White learners noted that ‗Black was loud‘ was a constant remark
said the students and that their understanding is that if they whispered it mean this was
mythical and stereotypical. The South African Constitution protects the language rights, so
there is no reason why violation should occur. The school has no concern for and a lack of
respect for indigenous languages.
Race appears to be a deciding factor in separating the classroom and the Black from
the White learners or visa versa. White Afrikaans teachers and Black English speaking
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learners are continually in contestation about how the Black learners are treated. They are
aware of the unfairness.
Lessons Learned
There is with evidence of a school that this school was supposed to promote cross
racial interaction. Instead promotes within school segregation and ii) one language. This
ideology was promoted by the faculty from the Afrikaans-only background. There was
resistance to policy implementation iv) and neglect of the use and existence of indigenous
languages. There was also subject choice of high profile careers offered to Afrikaans learner.
It is apparent South Africa requires a new national system for schools which will redress past
injustices in educational provisions, provide an education of progressively high quality for
all learners, and in so doing lay a strong foundation for the development of all our peoples‘
talents and capabilities.
In South Africa, desegregation seems to be an untidy exercise that was seen to be an
answer to redressing the atrocities of the past. It is evident that desegregation is happening,
however, the emergence of a new issue of desegregation is evidenced through a de facto
process in which a dominant language is being preferred over another. If desegregation
continues to be glossed over in schools this might continue to reproduce an arena in which
prejudice and discrimination, bitter conflicts, and violence will thrive (Zafar, 1998).
Redressing the past injustices of separate and unequal schools would be successful if
deracialized and cross-racial interactions were encouraged. The integration plan‘s
implementation of policy guidelines needs to be made available with constant monitoring and
evaluation. The development of positive attitudes among teachers towards learners from
different ethnic, racial, linguistic and religious groups is a priority in teacher education
worldwide (Gagliardi, 1994:6). Therefore, an important aim of teacher education programs is
to encourage and help prospective teachers to change negative feelings, which they may have
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toward learners from diverse groups, and to develop positive dispositions instead (UNESCO,
2001:1-2).
The language and character of the school is Afrikaans. The teacher expressed passion
in protecting their language. Greater use of Afrikaans language in the desegregated
environment of the South African schools appears to be rife. They even stated that there is a
difference in the use of languages that disadvantages Black students, and making them feel
inferior and unwanted. Teachers advantages Afrikaans speakers only at the school.
Students self-segregate and also respond to how the structure is designed, such that it
accommodated the popular Afrikaans learners, according to interests of the Afrikaans
speaking sports, language, and music, house. The post-Apartheid learners are in a situation
where internalized radicalized categories of Apartheid ideology continue to be relevant in
their perception of issues. Black learners are not constrained by Afrikaans in their living
experience of boundary crossing and fashioning hybrid identities.
Black learners continued to recognize the value of education to learn despite the racial
stereotyping that attempt to create barriers. Also the White learners often want to move
beyond Apartheid and cultural differences. The school must foster inter-group relations in
order to have the potential to be successful outside of the school. Camps for students of
different racial groups are needed to interact socially outside the school environment and
create. A forum needs to be created that can tackle prejudices, stereotypes. It is unusual that
for a school in South Africa to be racially integrated, while the classroom are segregated.
Despite the 1993 constitution‘s insistence that the state was required to promote the
equal use and enjoyment of all 11 official languages (Constitution, 1993, section 3/1), there
was an undeniable shift towards mono-lingualism in the public sphere, with the effect that
English is increasingly emerging as the lingua franca. Soudien (1997)) points out that, until

83

there is an inclusive program of language learning and education, all of the conditions of
cultural oppression will remain.
Summary
The learners feel victimized by the institution believe their voices are not heard, their
concerns unheard and the system fails them. Afrikaans teachers, separate classroom, the
domination Afrikaans language) all contribute to their feeling of being treated unequally.
When comparing what the White learners are saying, there is a visible comfort
experience by White Afrikaans speaking seen and explained as ―we are at home attitude:
―Needed are racially mixed sports teams, which are sensitive to the needs of all learners, such
an inclusion of soccer in the schools extra mural activities.
Classroom teaching is influenced by teachers' perceptions of learner diversity. The
current integration of South African schools calls for teachers to actively take stock of their
perceptions of learners from diverse backgrounds and to develop the attitudes, knowledge,
and skills that will equip them to teach effectively in culturally diverse classrooms.
The school should design an approach to education that permits equal recognition of
languages and equal opportunity to learn. The recognition of some of the indigenous
languages and English first language speakers will help facilitate cross racial interaction.
Moreover in the register class, more time is required for the register class to facilitate a
possible smooth cross racial interaction. At the time of my study there was no effort to try
strategies with a more guided approach and fair discipline. In the light of these facts, the
study also addresses some of the issues relating to how the language of the dominant in the
Apartheid and post Apartheid era plays to privilege and economic prosperity. The message is
clear, African languages and their speakers Black are still not valued, and are still not in
power because Afrikaans and English are more valued and still demonstrate superiority and
power.
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Government documents (Curriculum, 2005) on language in education policy appear to
emphasize integration and diversity, rather than coercion and segregation as was the case
during apartheid days. Teaching goes on in segregated classrooms and Afrikaans is
preserved and dominant. The school does not reflect a transitional society that moves from
authoritarianism to democracy.

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CHAPTER 5
DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Discussion
In this study, that seeks to examination was made on the cross racial interaction
between Black and White learners in a desegregated environment. I found that the
institutional structure of and culture reinforced divisiveness between learners. The new
development in the structuring of school to a parallel medium seemed to be a means to
encourage isolation although the government tries to redress the atrocities of the past. Very
little has been written about parallel medium as an initiative that was been adopted less than
ten years ago. The South African Constitution purports to protects the rights of all language
there but the school under study did not appear to include or recognize other nine languages.
There seem to be an obvious resistance to language change at this school.
Resistance to transformational initiatives
The former Model C schools provided a useful example. In the past community
control was an initiative of the late Apartheid era intended to enable White parents to
preserve their schools, including facilities and equipment (Samoff, 1996). This is still the case
after 1994. However the School Governing Body (SGB) put a new methodology to
governance. The SGB focused on the termination of their special status order to redistribute
resources and reduce inequality or tolerate them in order to promote reconciliation. In my
study I found that a number of factors that inform the resistance to change at the U school.
The key factor was the language of instruction and its associated power. There was been
major resistance to the inclusion of other medium of instruction.
Greater use of Afrikaans language in desegregation environment in the South African
school signified fear of loss of power. Even Black learners stated there is a difference in the

86

use of languages that disadvantaged Black learners and made them feel inferior, and
unwanted. Language use by teachers advantaged Afrikaans speakers learners only.
Cross racial interaction which leads to integration supposedly was a positive structural
change in the South African school system. It was an for the school to get the learners create
a diversified environment as explained by the Principal is in the register class. These fifteen
minutes class, every day for every class. In this class the students respond to the register
class teacher and the class prefects are occasionally asked to announce business of the day
(learner‘s activities) by the learners and the strategic plan is discussed in this class.
There can be no doubt that issues of diversity form part of the crux, of Desegregation
might be one of the biggest challenges for this former White schools only of post Apartheid
schools of South Africa. To the English Black learners the value of education is important
and transformation is of concern to them. The Afrikaans teachers seemed resistant to the
government‘s transitional efforts. The principal‘s cultural ignorance appeared intentional and
did not foster positive relations in the school. The teachers‘ attitude towards indigenous
languages was clearly negative.
Du Toit (1995) takes the view that the opening of schools to all races, does not
automatically ensure mutual understanding and acceptance between educators and learners
and amongst learners. Therefore desegregation per se does not lead to predictable and
meaningful changes in the attitudes of groups to each other and can, in fact, lead to the
heightening of tension and prejudices. I found this claim to be true in the occurrences at the
school under study. Within the desegregated school spaces was dynamically constructed with
language playing a significant role. Where there is little or no social interaction and the
school did not promote it, the classes are in two languages kept the learners apart. This
appeared to be another strategy to power play between groups (Van Heerden, 2000).

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Classroom Instruction in Afrikaans and English classes: Comparison
In the Afrikaans classes learners are taught in a formal, respectful environment. Study
manuals are used for interpretation and the learners received individual attention. However,
the Afrikaans learners were deprived of learning from the other cultures represented.
Not only does the system breed cultural ignorance but prejudice also was visible
when it came to the use of indigenous languages and the interpretation of unfamiliar cultures
which is not a priority at this school. The teachers are not aware of other cultures. Their
interest is maintaining power and their own Afrikaans language. The symbols of segregation
and separate development were kept alive by the structural makeup of the school. The
products of apartheid were still perpetuating inequality.
Stereotyping
Most students know that they are being stereotyped as expressed by the learners in
interviews. The Black learners mentioned in an interview that they are stereotyped as loud
and under-achieving. The perception that Blacks are ‗loud‘ prevails at this school. In several
interviews the White learners noted that ‗Blacks are loud‘. The Afrikaans learners claim they
were told by their teachers that Black people do not whisper when they talk to each other
because there is an understanding is that if they whisper it means they are gossiping; this is
both mythical and stereotypical.
Students self-segregate and also respond to how the structure is designed, such that it
accommodates the popular Afrikaans learners, according to interests of the Afrikaans
speaking [sports], language, and music [house versus Hoffmeyer55] mentioned as an example.
Yet, when analyzing the groups, there is still a prevalence of groups segregating byrace.

55

Hoffmeyer-an Afrikaans music pop star
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The study showed that the learner‘s attitudes toward their own or other ethnic groups
seemed to depend on the their teachers‘ perceived power of their own race or ethnicity The
following conclusions that help present ideas that lead recommendations that will help create
opportunities for cross racial interaction in a desegregated environment.
Conclusion
South Africa requires a new national system for schools which will redress past
injustices in educational provision to lay a strong foundation for the development of all our
people's talents and capabilities. In order to combat racism and sexism and all other forms of
unfair discrimination and intolerance, the government must move more strongly uphold the
rights of all learners, parents and educators, and promote their acceptance of responsibility
for the organization. The democratic transformation of society must take place to contribute
to the eradication of poverty and the economic well-being of society, protect and advance our
diverse cultures and languages, governance and funding of schools in partnership with the
State (The South African Constitution, 1996, the ANC Education Policy, 1995).
The study found that the Black English learners continued to recognize the value of
education to learn despite the racial stereotyping that attempted to create barriers. The White
learner wants to move beyond Apartheid and culture. It seems that the Apartheid notion of
owning resources in the former White schools (the schools are used as institutions to promote
Afrikanedom, and use Afrikaans linguistic identity and entitlement. This creates a barrier for
the process of desegregation and the integration strategy set by the Department of Education.
The cross racial interaction of learners and the integration plan and strategies seem far from
being implemented (DOE, 2005). This study concludes that the medium of instruction or
sometimes called the language of teaching and learning, Language of Teaching and
Learning(LOTL) English and Afrikaans at this school remains the main instrument for
segregation. The Afrikaans speaking teacher should be educated about their fears.
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Stereotypical thinking and misconceptions concerning African people will not or does not
promote or nurture positive self-image and thus cross racial interaction is far from being
reached at the U school.
The findings demonstrate a school that did not comply with the suggestion of the
policies that are in place. The government must be diligent the monitoring the practices of
former White schools.
Recommendations
There are many challenges facing the national and provincial education ministries.
Local communities and individual schools have to ensure that schools are truly desegregated
and integrated. Clearly much more work is needed to understand the educational issues at
stake and to make integrated schools a reality. Developing teaching and learning in a
desegregated environment takes much more than a formulated policy; it needs practical
guidelines. The SASA seems to have moved in the right direction of opening doors to all
learners. However, there appear to be no guidelines and strategies for desegregation and other
existing problems in the education system.
It is recommended that teachers be mandated take courses and participate in working
attend seminars related to South African diversity. Recognition of some of the indigenous
languages, a language accepted by both parents of the White and Black learners must be
introduced at the school. Positive inter-group relations should be encouraged by the school
and throughout the school when learners are in the register class.

The school‘s anthem is in

Afrikaans. How does this create unfairness? There was no attempt to sing the national
anthem which is composed in four of the official languages recognized by the Constitution of
the Republic of South Africa.. The language of instruction – how does this create a feeling of
‗we are at home attitude‘, this is our school‘ the school emerges as battle of race, language

90

and instructional deprivation. Diversity of school programs is not visible. Most school themes
are in Afrikaans and carry the Afrikaans symbols e.g. Lente – spring, Kristmas Carols, fiery,
Learners mentioned the language used for instruction and that the school used to be
Afrikaans only medium. They seemed to know that the school used to Afrikaans only and
that it was also racist. While learners and teachers talked about racism no one addressed the
racism in the interviews both inherent and hidden in denying the indigenous home languages
or Black African learners.
When none of the indigenous languages is accommodated by the school the teachers
are ill-prepared to address character, values culture of all learners. as a neither subject nor
instruction vehicle; this type of exclusion does not promote learners interaction and the
ultimate integration. This White Afrikaans learner seemed to know that separateness was
unfair and that being kept apart from each other was not what God planned for humanity.
Separate classrooms and separate languages did not help cross racial interactions
Future Research
The study contributes to the body of literature and a debate that goes on in South
African and beyond. It extends prior research while the existing literature emphasizes what
the government has or has not done. This study represents the voices of learners. Under this
desegregated environment separating classes through language for Black and White learners
does no benefit for cross racial interaction.
I plan on in-depth study examining though a bigger study of schools in the New South
African education system, examining by comparing and contrasting a) the English medium,
b)Afrikaans medium, c) Parallel Medium. As this study has revealed the dynamics of a
desegregated environment; further study will examine the structure of three categories of
former ―White only‖ schools to ascertain whether the structure of these schools helps or
creates more barriers for cross racial interaction.
91

APPENDICES

92

APPENDIX A:
INTERVIEW PROTOCOL FOR STUDENTS
Stage 1
1.

When did you come to this school?

2.

Which school did you attend before you came to this one?

3.

Tell me what it is like to be a student at this school?

4.

Do you have Black/White friends?

5.

What do you talk about with your White friends and what do you talk about
with your Black friends?

6.

What would your parents say if you had a Black/White friend?

7.

What is the best thing about the school?

8.

What is the worst thing about the school?

Stage 2
1.

How many are in your class?

2.

How many students are White? How many are Black?

3.

What has your experience been with Black/White learners?

4.

What do you gain from being with Black/White learners?

5.

What kind of comments do you get from Black/White learners?

6.

What is your attitude towards Black/White learners?
93

7.

When and who gets demerits?

8.

Do you think racism exists in this school?

9.

If so, how?

10.

Do you think Black and White students interact?

11.

How does the school promote interactions among learners of different races?

12.

What language is mostly spoken in the classroom?

13.

What language is mostly spoken outside the classroom?

14.

What is your native language?

Stage 3
1.

How would you describe your racial background?

2.

What is it like to be a student at this school?

3.

What is the best thing about this school?

4.

What is the worst thing about this school?

5.

What are your careers plans?

94

APPENDIX B:
1. PROTOCOL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR ADMINISTRATORS
2. How would you characterize the experience of the learners at this?
2.1 What are the changes proposed by the government? How are they implemented?
3. What are these changes helping you to help the students?
4. The register class, what are the goals and objectives of this class?
5. What are the measures taken by the school to meet the challenges of all learners?
6.

What do you think are the school‘s strengths and shortcomings?

7.

How is the school in helping students in their interacting?

8.

What is the school‘s major challenge in the next five years?

9.

Where do you think South Africa will be in the next five years?

10.

Is the language of indigenous South African a feature in your schools?

95

APPENDIX C:
CONSENT LETTER FOR STUDENTS
Project Title: Desegregation in former Whites schools of South Africa
Dear Students
My name is Nomalanga P. Grootboom. I am doctoral student at Michigan State University
(USA) in K-12 Educational Administration. To complete my studies, I am required to do a
research project and write a dissertation.

This project requires understanding the experience of learners in former White schools in
Pretoria. The information I will gather from you will: 1) be part of completing my studies at
Michigan State University, 2) help your teachers, administrators, parents, education officials
and other government officials in the Ministry of Education design programs that will suit
your needs and will help you and other students reach the highest potential in education.

Since you are a student at this school, we seek permission to interview you individually and
in groups comprising of 8-10 students. Individual interviews will take 30-60 minutes. The
interviews will be conducted during out-of-class hours to ensure that your class schedule is
not interrupted. With your permission, we will tape-record the interviews.

I ask you to sign this form to indicate that you are aware of the purpose of this research and
am willing to participate in individual interviews. Please check/tick the option

Individually
I voluntarily agree to take part in the study.

Please sign here: __________________________

96

Date:

___________

APPENDIX D:
CONSENT LETTERS FOR ADMINISTRATORS
Project Title: Desegregation in former “Whites only” school of South Africa
Dear Students
My name is Nomalanga P. Grootboom. I am doctoral student at Michigan State University
(USA) in K-12 Educational Administration. To complete my studies, I am required to do a
research project and write a dissertation. This project requires understanding the experience
of learners in former White schools in Pretoria. The information I will gather from you will:
1) be part of completing my studies at Michigan State University, 2) help your teachers,
administrators, parents, education officials and other government officials in the Ministry of
Education design programs that will suit your needs and will help you and your students
reach the highest potential in education.
We seek permission to interview students individually and in groups comprising 8-10
students. Individual interviews will take 90 minutes. The interviews will be conducted during
out-of-class hours to ensure that the students‘ class schedule is not interrupted. We will taperecord the interviews.
The interviews will seek to understand your interaction with students across. Although we
have sought permission from your head master for you to participate in this research project;
your participation is strictly voluntary. You may choose not to participate and there will
be no penalty. You will also withdraw from participating in the study at any stage or time of
the interview without penalty.
We will not ask you to identify yourself by your real name. Instead, you will choose a pseudo
name by which you will be known during the interview. Your privacy will be protected to the
maximum allowance by law. The findings of the study and the way they will be reported will
not have any information that might be associated with your responses or reveal your
identity. I will keep all the data such as recorded tapes and notes locked cabinet. Only
dissertation director (Prof. Reitu Mabokela) at Michigan State and me will have access to it.
After to years the data will be destroyed.
If you have questions and concerns about this study, feel free the primary investigator, Prof.
Reitu Mabokela (Tel: 517 355 1275) e-mail: mabokela@msu.edu , regular mail: 452 Erikson
Hall East Lansing MI 48823. If you are dissatisfied with the study or have question or
concerns about the study you may contact Peter Vasilenko, PhD, Chair of the University
Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects (UCRIHS) by phone : 517) 355 2180, fax
517) 432-4503, e-mail: uchirhs@msu.edu or regular mail: 202 Olds Hall , East Lansing, MI
48823.

97

Sincerely,

Ms Nomalanga Grootboom
Doctoral Candidate, MSU K-12
Educational Administration
1452 Apartment J, Spartan Village
East Lansing, MI 48823, USA
grootboo@msu.edu

I ask you to sign this form to indicate that you‘re aware of the purpose of this research and
are willing to participate in individual interviews. Please check/tick the option

I voluntarily agree to participate in the study:

Please sign here:__________________________
Date:________________

98

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