Policy Options and Approaches to Unity and Diversity in Education in the Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Critical Reflection

Many countries in the world have for a long time grappled with the problem of reconciling national unity with cultural diversity. This problem arises out of a multiplicity of situations: (1) continuing ethnic, linguistic or cultural minorities; (2) marked regional claims to autonomy or cultural identity; (3) the influx of migrants of heterogeneous cultural backgrounds; and (4) socio-economic conflicts arising out of unemployment or other socio-economic illness and differences of age-group, gender, race and class (Cross:1992). Another factor is what Halls describes as 'gigantism': Countries, like much modern architecture, suffer from 'gigantism': psychologically, ordinary people feel unable to identify with large entities, supranational or national. 'Small' is not only 'beautiful', but comprehensible (Halls, 1983). In many cases, these situations can lead to social conflict or cultural clashes between majority and minority groups, and the assertion by minorities of a will to preserve a separate cultural identity. Under apartheid, South African education was divided into 19 education departments, all of which were either racially or ethnically defined (Kallaway:1986). The post-apartheid government since 1994 has grappled with the challenge of national unity and diversity in education, for an educational policy aimed at bringing about national unity, democracy, non-racialism and non-sexism and capable of redressing the historical imbalances imposed by the apartheid system in South Africa? In the democratic dispensation, the development of a national education system necessitated fundamental change to existing educational policies and practices. The purpose of this article is to examine policy options to address the issues of national unity and cultural diversity in education in South Africa.