18 March 2011

Human rights education: workshops for Grade 12 history learners at Constitution Hill

Learners from Ingqayivizele Secondary School during their workshop at Constitution Hill.

To mark Human Rights Day in 2011, the South African History Archive (SAHA) invited Grade 12 history learners to participate in a pilot workshop on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), history and human rights. Over two hundred learners from four schools participated, including Ingqayivizele Secondary School, Fidelitas Comprehensive School, Fons Luminis Secondary School and Vuwani Secondary School. 

The workshop served as an enrichment tool for the matric history syllabus, but SAHA aimed to challenge learners about their own perceptions about the TRC. The programme was interactive, enabling learners to undertake a creative and critical process of evaluation towards a deeper understanding of the underlying issues related to the TRC.

Each workshop provided learners with the opportunity to contribute to SAHA's exhibition by creating their own collages expressing views on the 'unfinished business of the TRC' using a range of primary sources drawn from SAHA's archival collections. These collages are being displayed in the Ramparts for the remainder of the exhibition.

The workshops took place in the Ramparts, where SAHA is currently exhibiting resources from a range of SAHA's own collections on the TRC, in addition to a multimedia installation showing a range of episodes from the Truth Commission Special Report, a documentary series on the TRC which has been packaged as an interactive multimedia product in conjunction with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).

 

Learn more about the Truth Commission Special Report Multimedia Product.

Matrics from Vuwani Secondary School creating a collage reflecting their own views on the TRC.

Learners from Fidelitas Secondary School engaged in a workshop on analyzing primary sources on the TRCMatric learners from Fons Luminis Secondary School standing in the Joe Slovo Square at Constitution Hill before their tour of the heritage site.