What did the Bantu Education Act of 1953 mandate regarding schooling for non-white individuals?

The Bantu Education Act of 1953 was a key piece of legislation in the establishment of an apartheid education system in South Africa. The Act mandated the segregation of education along racial lines, creating a separate and inferior system for non-white individuals, primarily focusing on black South Africans.

Under this Act, the education provided to non-white students was limited in scope and aimed at training them for roles in the labor market, primarily in vocational and manual labor sectors. This policy reflected the broader goals of the apartheid system, which sought to maintain the socio-economic hierarchy favoring white South Africans while subjugating non-white populations.

The Act's emphasis on vocational subjects ensured that non-white individuals would not receive an education comparable to that of their white counterparts, hindering their opportunities for upward mobility and reinforcing systemic inequalities. This institutionalized approach to education effectively upheld the apartheid regime's policies of racial discrimination and segregation.