Youth Day (South Africa)
Youth Day (formerly: Soweto Day , German: "Jugendtag") is a South African national holiday that is celebrated annually on June 16 . The holiday was established in 1994 to commemorate the beginning of the student uprising in Soweto introduced on 16 June 1976th
background
After the Bantu Education Act had severely restricted educational opportunities for blacks in the 1950s , plans by the apartheid government to introduce Afrikaans as the language of instruction led to the protests. Many of the black students did not speak the language and were deprived of their educational opportunities. As the Bantu Education system already resulted in overcrowded classrooms and poorly trained teachers, the announced change in the language of instruction sparked the protests.
On June 16, 1976, over 20,000 students gathered in Soweto to demonstrate against the measures. The police bloodied the demonstration. Over 700 people died in the clashes, which could only be ended six months later.