<P> Black South African high school students in Soweto protested against the Afrikaans Medium Decree of 1974, which forced all black schools to use Afrikaans and English in a 50--50 mix as languages of instruction . The Regional Director of Bantu Education (Northern Transvaal Region), J.G. Erasmus, told Circuit Inspectors and Principals of Schools that from 1 January 1975, Afrikaans had to be used for mathematics, arithmetic, and social studies from standard five (7th grade), according to the Afrikaans Medium Decree; English would be the medium of instruction for general science and practical subjects (homecraft, needlework, woodwork, metalwork, art, agricultural science). Indigenous languages would only be used for religious instruction, music, and physical culture . </P> <P> The association of Afrikaans with apartheid prompted black South Africans to prefer English . Even the Bantustan regimes chose English and an indigenous African language as official languages . In addition, English was gaining prominence as the language most often used in commerce and industry . The 1974 decree was intended to forcibly reverse the decline of Afrikaans among black Africans . The Afrikaner - dominated government used the clause of the 1909 Union of South Africa Act that recognised only English and Dutch (the latter being replaced by Afrikaans in 1925) as official languages as the pretext to do so . While all schools had to provide instruction in both Afrikaans and English as languages, white South African students learned other subjects in their home language . </P> <P> Punt Janson, the Deputy Minister of Bantu Education at the time, was quoted as saying: "A Black man may be trained to work on a farm or in a factory . He may work for an employer who is either English - speaking or Afrikaans - speaking and the man who has to give him instructions may be either English - speaking or Afrikaans - speaking . Why should we now start quarrelling about the medium of instruction among the Black people as well?...No, I have not consulted them and I am not going to consult them . I have consulted the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa ..." </P> <P> The decree was resented deeply by blacks . Desmond Tutu, bishop of Lesotho and later Dean of Johannesburg, stated that Afrikaans was "the language of the oppressor". Teacher organisations, such as the African Teachers Association of South Africa, objected to the decree . A change in language of instruction forced the students to focus on understanding the language instead of the subject material . This made critical analysis of the content difficult and discouraged critical thinking . </P>

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