Indenture history often ignored in schools

IOL News

07-06-2025

The first Indian indentured labourers arrived in Durban harbour aboard the Truro in 1860. The writer says in most schools today, the history of indenture is accorded only cursory attention and this leads to a lack of knowledge about the drudgery and poverty faced by the early Indian labourers under colonial rule.
Image: File
REMEMBER the old days when the teaching of history in our schools was so Eurocentric, you'd be forgiven for thinking human life only began here in the year 1652.And who do we have to blame for that? Because history tended to be written by those in power, the only names earning mention in our text books were white colonial leaders.
Prominent among them were Jan van Riebeeck, Simon van der Stel, Paul Kruger, Jan Smuts, Charles Somerset, Dick King, not forgetting Benjamin D'Urban after whom our city was named.
In more recent years, the teaching of history was so distorted under apartheid that children were taught to laud the achievements and milestones of whites while the historical experiences of people of colour were relegated to mere footnotes.
So, ignorance and the breeding of dangerous racial stereotypes flourished.
Video Player is loading.
Play Video
Play
Unmute
Current Time
0:00
/
Duration
-:-
Loaded :
0%
Stream Type LIVE
Seek to live, currently behind live
LIVE
Remaining Time
-
0:00
This is a modal window.
Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.
Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque
Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps
Reset
restore all settings to the default values Done
Close Modal Dialog
End of dialog window.
Advertisement
Next
Stay
Close ✕
A case in point is the teaching of Indian indenture history in our schools. In most schools today, it is accorded only cursory attention, leading to a pathetic lack of knowledge about the drudgery and poverty faced by the early Indian labourers under colonial rule.
South Africa, and that includes many Indian South Africans, are totally unaware of how the labourers were recruited from India; their harrowing experiences on their sea journey across the ocean to Durban, and that when they got here, they were to discover indentureship was just a euphemism for slavery.
Local teachers I spoke to say while indentured history is officially part of the syllabus, it receives only skimpy attention in most schools or is often ignored altogether.
I particularly liked the idea proposed by Selvan Naidoo, curator of the 1860 Heritage Centre, to achieve a national approach to the understanding of South African history: "The solution would be to include indenture, slavery and the Struggle history (in South Africa) as part of the Grade 12 exam paper and make history a compulsory subject."As some wise person once said: You have to know the past to understand the present.
Beware Trump's apartheid-like control
Every year, thousands of fresh-faced young men and women flock to universities and other tertiary institutions to further their studies. Not all of them make it. But for those who do, it is the beginning of an exciting new chapter in their lives.
In a flash, they are transported to a culture of independent thinking, problem solving and a cross pollination of views and ideas they had never encountered before. What an exciting time in a young person's life. I know because I had two bites of the cherry in my younger days - one bitter and the other, so sweet I will savour it for the rest of my life.
US President Donald Trump
Image: AFP
The first was at the apartheid-inspired "bush college" for Indians at Salisbury Island. The campus was a soulless and discarded army barracks; much of the academic curriculum was narrow and uninspiring; and the apartheid authorities were intent on imposing ideological and academic control over students and the institution's faculties. It was only the hunger and determination of students there to succeed against such imposing odds that helped maintain a healthy balance on the campus.
The second came after I was awarded a Nieman Fellowship to study at Harvard University in the US. What an eye-opening experience it was as the doors opened to a new world of international diversity in which free thinking and the experimentation with ideas were the order of the day. It was the best year of my life. That's why it's so distressing to hear that Harvard is today being bullied by that xenophobic president of the United States, Donald Trump who wants all foreign students at the institution out.
And his reason for such repressive action is patently clear - he wants ideological control over Harvard's governance, curriculum and students. Which begs the question? How different is Trump's behaviour from what the apartheid regime did to control racially-separated "bush colleges" here not so long ago?
Pay as much as you wish
How would you like to go to a restaurant and when it's time to pay the bill, the manager says: "No, we don't charge customers here. You pay as much as you wish."
Sounds too good to be true, eh?
Well, I came across the innovative concept on Facebook recently as the manager of the Annalucksmi Riverside restaurant in Malaysia waxed lyrical about the "homely feeling" his menu provided and the virtues of feeding mankind rather than just a chosen few.
Dishing out a delicious buffet helping of rice and veg curry, with some mango pickle, russom and papad thrown in, he said the concept was not based on money but love. Patrons are not charged, but can "give what their heart feels like".
Reaction on social media was somewhat mixed. While some praised the concept, others were sceptical, with one saying "When you donate with your right hand, the left hand should not know. "Do you think the concept can work here?
Dennis Pather
Image: File