The pledge has been described alternatively as an attempt at fostering social cohesion and as ideological abuse.
One newspaper columnist said it would do little but remind children that "the little white ones among them are evil seed".
"This oath is nothing more than an attempt by the [ruling] ANC to indoctrinate vulnerable school children with a permanent guilt complex," said Jaco Mulder, a provincial parliamentarian of the white minority Freedom Front Plus opposition party.
Some object to the fact that besides the expected commitment to such values as human dignity and justice, nearly half the pledge has to do with injustices perpetrated under the apartheid state.
Education Minister Naledi Pandor defended the move on Friday, telling the Mail & Guardian it was a bid to promote "national unity where ideals are not expressed only by those who participated in the struggle".
"We hope that young people ... do come to have an appreciation of the struggle that was centred on certain principles of humanity."
The proposal has been welcomed by the African National Congress Youth League.
"We are of the opinion that the pledge will go a long way to imbue the youth with a sense of pride, patriotism, nation building and a caring society," it said in a statement.
"Just as no farmer would plant a young sapling in the eye of the storm, no nation as young as ours can be expected to overcome its growing pains without some help," said the Star, welcoming the initiative.
But Business Day said it was a good idea badly executed.
"The text ... contains much about the injustices of the past but little about what's important now," it said.
"This is a troubled and fragmented society and we could do with some unifying values and rituals. But this pledge doesn't quite make the grade."
President Thabo Mbeki told lawmakers on Thursday it was important to keep in mind that both black and white citizens had contributed to today's South Africa.
Yet recent national debate, he said, had illustrated a clear division "between those who believe South Africa is experiencing the worst of times and those who assert that this is the best of times".
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