Eiselen Commission

The Eiselen Commission was a South African commission appointed in 1949 to study and recommend changes to the education of Black South Africans. Headed by anthropologist W.W.M. Eiselen, the commission's report in 1951 recommended that the government take control of Black education as part of a broader socioeconomic plan. It also suggested that schooling should be adapted to the cultural needs of the communities. These recommendations heavily influenced the Bantu Education Act of 1953, which was enacted to segregate and discriminate against nonwhite students as part of the apartheid system. This act placed Black education under the Department of Native Affairs and aimed to train Black children for manual labor, instilling a sense of subservience to white South Africans. Funding for Black schools was significantly less than for white schools, leading to severe shortages of resources and qualified teachers.1