Two themes which dominated the #FeesMustFall protests over the last year are: free education for everyone, and the decolonisation of universities.<\/p>\n
Free tertiary education, and the ability of the government to fund it, has been discussed in-depth. The aspect of decolonisation, however, has not enjoyed the same attention.<\/p>\n
One of the protesting students, Tshepiso Modupe, said decolonisation requires the entire education system to be restructured.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the time that it was colonised there was never an attempt to decolonise the university. The university culture is still very white, it\u2019s very elitist, patriarchal, and it\u2019s very heteronormative,\u201d said student leader Kealeboga Ramaru.<\/p>\n
In a video titled Science Must Fall, a student leader explains that science must be \u201cdone away with entirely\u201d and that local universities must \u201cstart over again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cScience as a whole is a product of Western modernity, and the whole thing should be scratched off,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to restart science from an African perspective, from our perspective, of how we experienced science.\u201d<\/p>\n
She went on to describe how people in KwaZulu-Natal believe that black magic can be used to \u201csend lightning\u201d to strike someone. \u201cCan you explain that science?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
MyBroadband has learned that students have even demanded that all university buildings which were built in a Western style be demolished and replaced with buildings in an African style.<\/p>\n
The video where the #FeesMustFall student leaders discuss the issue of the decolonisation of science is below.<\/p>\n