Mr J Manenzhe Presented at the 30 th Annual conference of the SASHT Port Elizabeth Pine Lodge 07 October 2016 INTRODUCTION This presentation seeks to evaluate the value of History and its relevance as a contributing factor to nation building in South Africa ID: 570327
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Slide1
Making History Compulsory in South Africa – a key component of nation buildingMr J Manenzhe
Presented at the 30
th
Annual conference of the SASHT
(Port Elizabeth – Pine Lodge)
07 October 2016Slide2
INTRODUCTIONThis presentation seeks to evaluate the value of History and its relevance as a contributing factor to nation building in South Africa.
The (democratic) political dispensation (1994) in SA ushered in a new and promising sense of a rainbow nation from the divided past.
Slide3
INTRODUCTIONSA however, lacked a programme designed to unify ‘the’ nation whose division was institutionalised.
The TRC attempted to heal atrocities of the divided past at a political level but could not bring about the social cohesion for nation building
Since
then, some achievements
of national
sports teams and certain individual contributions emerged as vital examples of the new SA at work.
Slide4
Attempts to make History compulsory in Nigeria2009/10, the History Society of Nigeria presented a bill to the National Assembly to make History compulsory in sec schools – they were worried of decline in the subject (patriotic reason) (G.
Onyekpe
)
Why compulsory? A child might be brilliant but without historical knowledge of his nation, his analysis of issues would be superficial Slide5
History mattersDoctors ask for medical history from their patients (D. Crabtree, Institute of
Guten
berg College)
When a patient return to the doctor, he/she pulls out a file which contain notes from the past visits Slide6
Make History compulsory for the right reasonsMaking History compulsory should not be encouraged by a narrow patriotic sense of national identity (exclusion then & now remains wrong) (R. Evans, Guardian)
It should be for right reasons e.g. getting pupils learn & understand cultures separated from us by time and space(non-violence approach by the Civil Rights Movement in the USA to # … must fall) Slide7
Value of HistoryGives a society a sense of belonging, pride of being a member of the collective and truly part of something worth protecting & preserving(national identity)Develops specific skills: ability to assess evidence, ability to assess conflicting interpretations & ability to identify continuities that always accompany even the most dramatic changes (Continuity & Change) (P. Stearns. AHA)Slide8
Former model C schools as a foundationCreating sense of belonging & commonness to learners from different groups
Distr
(LMP)
No of schools
No of schools doing History
CAPRICORN
6
2
MOPANI
2
0
SEKHUKHUNE
1
1
VHEMBE
2
1 (Introduced in Gr 10 – 2015)
WATERBERG
7
3
TOTAL
18
7Slide9
Potential – Growing no of learners
2012
2013
2014
2015
NATIONA
94 489
109 046
115 686
154 398
GAUTEN
18 215
22 483
25 319
35 508Slide10
How to construct a new nation Education (one of the 5 steps) with 3 principle challenges; HR, physical infrastructure & content. (C. Qunta
. 2016: 94)
Content: ‘our
educ
institutions were carbon copies of Europeans ones, that has to undergo a radical change so that the next generation of children is freed from
indocrination
’ Slide11
How to construct a new nation ‘The contributions of Africans to world civilisation should be a compulsory field of study incorporated into all disciplines, not only History, e.g. medical students should learn of the medical practices of Africans such as
Inhotep
and the medical texts of the Middle Ages in Timbuktu’ Slide12
Impact on contentPerspectives of most current topics, e.g. The People’s CharterInternal/ External resistance to apartheid
History of sports in South Africa Slide13
Thank you