Report of the History Ministerial Task Team for the Department of Basic Education

The History Ministerial Task Team has released its Report for the Department of Basic Education. "In the current context, where interest in ‘history’ is dwindling, democrats are appalled at the current lack of social and historic consciousness amongst the youth, and students rail against the slow pace at which the historic, social and economic landscape is transforming, debate on the goals of History as a school subject have reopened. This is not the first review of this kind. The History curriculum has gone through many iterations, from sanitising the content after apartheid, to removing the disciplinary boundaries and encouraging a constructivist approach in c. 2005. History was later reinstated in the RNCS/NCS with the express intention of encouraging redress, reconstruction and reconciliation, while maintaining an outcome-based approach. Finally, in Curriculum and Policy Statement (CAPS), History taught at schools was pared down and there was a return to a content focus, with a greater emphasis on ‘citizenship’. But the content is still sanitised in terms of teaching African History.

The MTT recommends that History should be made compulsory at FET phase. It is important for us all to take note that History rests upon the present; varies with the present; and in fact is the present. Good history education promotes sympathetic and informed understanding of humanity and the human condition."