The day was set aside to raise awareness of the importance of education for children in Africa.
The day not only honours the participants of the Soweto Uprising in 1976 but also raises awareness of the imperative need for improvement of the education of African children.
Note
On June 16th, 1976, thousands of black students from Soweto, South Africa, took to the streets to protest.
It was the protest for the prevailing disparity in the education system that preferred quality education for the whites over the black population in Africa.