Pupils refuse to return to school before Soweto Uprisings

Soweto pupils rejected the Orlando Diepkloof School board's demand that they return to class following a walkout to protest the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. This marks a turning point and leads to the 16 June 1976 event of the Soweto Uprising. As the boycott spread to other schools, the South African Student Movement had tried but failed to resolve the issue, by holding a conference in Roodepoort to discuss the campaign against the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.