Department of Bantu Education

The Department of Bantu Education was a government agency in apartheid-era South Africa responsible for overseeing education for Black South Africans. Its policies aimed to restrict educational opportunities, reinforce racial segregation, and maintain apartheid structures by providing limited, locally controlled schooling that emphasized vocational training over academic excellence. This system marginalized Black learners, deepening social and economic inequalities, and was used as a tool to reinforce racial hierarchy and control. The department’s approach reflected broader apartheid aims of racial separation and the suppression of Black empowerment through education.