Will history be made compulsory throughout high school?
A plan to make history compulsory has been criticised by some who fear the subject will be abused as a political propaganda tool
On Thursday, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga will release the ministerial task team report into the possibility of introducing history as a compulsory subject in Grades 10, 11 and 12.At present, pupils take history to Grade 9 and are permitted to drop it in Grade 10.The plan to make history compulsory has been criticised in some quarters, with some fearing that the subject will be abused as a political propaganda tool, as in Zimbabwe, where the history syllabus in government schools is reportedly biased towards the governing Zanu-PF.According to the Department of Basic Education: "In 2015, the department hosted the inaugural history roundtable where the ministerial task team, led by Prof Sibusiso Ndlovu, was established and given terms of reference to conduct a comparative international study on how best to implement the introduction of history as a compulsory subject in Further Education and Training (FET) schools."The team was also responsible for the review and strengthe...
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