Pupils refuse to return to school before Soweto Uprisings

Date: 24 May 1976
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

Soweto pupils rejected the Orlando Diepkloof School board's demand that they return to class following a walkout to protest the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. This marks a turning point and leads to the 16 June 1976 event of the Soweto Uprising. As the boycott spread to other schools, the South African Student Movement had tried but failed to resolve the issue, by holding a conference in Roodepoort to discuss the campaign against the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.

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01Ndlovu, S., M., ‘The Soweto Uprising’, in The Road to Democracy in South Africa: 1970-1980, Volume 2, (UNISA Press), pp. 334-335
02The South African Democracy Education Trust (SADET),"The Soweto Uprising",From: The South African Democracy Education Trust (SADET),[Online],available at: www.sadet.co.za,[Accessed on: 20 May 2014]

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Pupils refuse to return to school before Soweto Uprisings. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012259

South African History Online (2011) 'Pupils refuse to return to school before Soweto Uprisings', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012259 (Accessed: 6 August 2026).

South African History Online, Pupils refuse to return to school before Soweto Uprisings [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012259, (accessed 6 August 2026).

"Pupils refuse to return to school before Soweto Uprisings." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012259. Accessed 6 Aug. 2026.

South African History Online. "Pupils refuse to return to school before Soweto Uprisings." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012259.