The Bantu Education Act was a South African law enacted in 1953 that came into effect on January 1, 1954. It was designed to control and segregate the education of Black South African children under the apartheid regime
. The act transferred the administration and control of Black education from missionary and provincial authorities to the government, specifically the Department of Native Affairs, later renamed the Department of Bantu Education
. Key features of the Bantu Education Act include:
- It enforced racially separate educational facilities and curricula tailored to what the apartheid government deemed suitable for Black South Africans, focusing on manual labor and menial jobs rather than academic advancement
- Education was conducted primarily in native languages, with limited instruction in English and Afrikaans, and included subjects like needlework for girls, handcraft, planting, and soil conservation alongside basic arithmetic and social studies
- Funding for Black schools was minimal and derived from taxes paid by Black communities, resulting in severe resource shortages, high student-to-teacher ratios, and poor educational quality compared to white schools
- Many mission schools closed rather than comply with the act’s racially discriminatory curriculum, and the act aimed to inculcate acceptance of subservience among Black South Africans
- The act was part of a broader apartheid strategy to limit Black South Africans' social and economic mobility by preparing them only for low-skilled labor roles, while also attempting to manage ethnic divisions within the Black population
The Bantu Education Act is widely regarded as one of apartheid's most oppressive laws, significantly disadvantaging Black South Africans and entrenching systemic racial inequality in education
. In summary, the Bantu Education Act institutionalized racially segregated and inferior education for Black South Africans, aligning schooling with apartheid’s goals of racial control and economic exploitation
