Every year on 16 June, South Africans pause to remember the Soweto Uprising of 1976. While the day commemorates a painful chapter in our country’s history, it is also a reminder of the power of young people to challenge injustice and demand a better future. As I reflect on the significance of the Soweto Uprising, I am reminded that its lessons extend far beyond history. It teaches us valuable lessons about learning, personal growth, resilience, and the opportunities that educ

In 1974, the Department of Bantu Education issued the Afrikaans Medium Decree, which was a policy that mandated the use of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in Black secondary schools. This proved to be a significant hardship on black learners and educators who were not properly equipped to teach and learn subjects in a language that was not their mother tongue. This law was met with rejection from black students who saw the language as that of ‘the oppressors’ and thus