Multi-cultural education : is education playing a role in acculturating different cultures in South Africa

Abstract

In African alone there are around 2000 ethnic groups in the 53 states. South Africa is not an exception in having different ethnic groups which have different cultures. Prior 1994, during the prime apartheid era, people were divided according to their race, culture and ethnicity. It is also important to note that in different cities, towns, farms and rural areas of South Africa, people were located according to their differences in terms of Whites, Coloureds, Indians and Africans (Blacks) as well as their ethnicity, wherein, Nguni (Xhosa, Zulu, Swati and Ndebele), Sotho (Tswana, South Sotho and North South), Venda and Tsonga groups were separated. Especially noteworthy, the White groups were separated in terms of ethnicity, where Afrikaner, English, Greek and some other Europeans had separate dwellings places in cities. However, the main emphasis was on rural South Africa, what used to be called, homelands which were defined and divided exclusively according to ethnicity and cultural background. In this conceptual paper we reviewed and access how far South African education has gone playing a role in assimilating and acculturating different cultures into one South African nation (culture) since inception of democracy in 1994. Let us not hesitate to assert that it cannot be easy to put together people of different cultures who were strategically divided over a period of centuries. Nevertheless, as a nation which is preaching unity, this should be a priority and supposed to happen sooner than later. We infer that the establishment of a united and progressive nation depends on the provision of education. The question which we attempt to answer is „Is education playing a role in assimilating and acculturating different South African cultures?‟