In 1976, in South Africa, an emblematic event marked the history of the struggle against apartheid: the student protest. This historical image of South African resistance illustrates the determination of young people to rise up against injustice and claim their fundamental rights.
Radical popular education in South Africa has a long tradition, closely linked to the struggle against oppression. From the night schools run by the Communist Party of South Africa in the 1920s and 1930s to the workers’ education initiatives of the trade unions and the Popular Education movement of the United Democratic Front in the 1970s and 1980s, these efforts aimed to empower the oppressed through critical knowledge. Despite the advent of liberal democracy in 1994, persistent social inequalities call for a reinvention of this tradition.
The roots of radical popular education in South Africa can be traced back to the Communist Party of South Africa in the 1920s and 1930s. At a time when the majority of black South Africans were denied access to formal education, the Communist Party ran night schools in urban areas, particularly in mining communities. These schools aimed not only to provide basic literacy and numeracy, but also to develop class consciousness among workers, helping them understand their exploitation under capitalism and their role in the broader struggle for liberation. These classes were not charities; they were part of a political project to equip workers with the knowledge needed to challenge the structures of colonialism and apartheid.
In a country where formal education was designed to perpetuate inequality, these night schools served as alternative, clandestine spaces for political education. They laid the foundations for the trade union movement and the mass mobilisations that would follow in the decades that followed.
The tradition of radical popular education was also expressed through union-sponsored worker education initiatives, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s. This was particularly evident after the Durban strikes of 1973. These strikes, involving over 100,000 workers, led to the revival of the independent trade union movement and a new emphasis on the importance of educating workers not only about their rights, but also about the broader political and economic structures shaping their exploitation.
The Federation of South African Trade Unions (Fosatu), formed in 1979, played a key role in developing worker education programmes that emphasised democratic participation and self-organisation. Fosatu saw education as central to building strong, independent unions and promoting a culture of workers’ control. These programmes were not top-down; they were rooted in workers’ experiences and designed to strengthen their capacity to wage struggles in their workplaces and beyond. Through study groups, workshops and reading circles, workers developed an understanding of how their struggles were linked to the broader battle against apartheid and capitalism. Workers’ education continued after the formation of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in 1985.
These programmes were designed to be participatory and democratic, with workers involved in defining the curriculum and setting the agenda for discussion. Education was created collectively, based on the experiences of workers themselves.
In the 1980s, the idea of Popular Education became prominent in the UDF. It was based on the principle that education should be oriented towards the needs and aspirations of the oppressed majority, rather than serving the interests of the ruling class. It aimed to transform classrooms into spaces of political engagement, where students could critically examine the society in which they lived and envision a future based on justice, equality and freedom. It was also participatory, encouraging students to question authority and develop their own understanding of the world, rather than passively absorbing information from textbooks or teachers.
The Popular Education movement spread to community centres, churches and homes, where students, parents and activists gathered to discuss topics ranging from apartheid laws to the nature of capitalist exploitation. In these spaces, education became a collective project, with knowledge shared and developed in dialogue with one another. Like the night schools of the Communist Party of South Africa, Popular Education was not just about transmitting facts; it aimed to cultivate critical consciousness, enabling individuals to become active participants in the struggle for liberation.
Today, the education system still largely reflects the inequalities of the past. Public schools in poor, predominantly black communities are under-resourced, while private schools and formerly white-only institutions continue to offer a vastly superior education to those who can afford it..
Although circumstances have changed, the core principles of empowering the oppressed through critical knowledge remain more relevant than ever. The current generation of young people is facing an economic and social crisis marked by mass structural unemployment, precarity and exploitation that persist. In this context, it is imperative to reaffirm the importance of education as a tool for liberation, empowerment and social transformation.