Month: August 2026

On 9 August 1956, roughly twenty thousand women walked up to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest the extension of the pass laws. Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Rahima Moosa and Sophia Williams-De Bruyn led them. They delivered their petitions. And then they stood, for thirty minutes, in complete silence, before singing.

Most teachers see two piles on their desks-merit stickers and detention slips-but these are not true opposites. They are the same tool fueled by adult-driven motivation, which can undermine sustainable student engagement. They are not opposites. They are the same tool held at either end, and both run on the same fuel.