South Africa: Public School No Place for Afrikaans-Only Policy

[Francis Hult]

Via lgpolicy...

Public School No Place for Afrikaans-Only Policy


Business Day (Johannesburg)


NEWS
25 January 2008
Posted to the web 25 January 2008

By Sue Blaine
Johannesburg

AFRIKAANS parents are going to have to establish private schools if
they want their children to learn in an Afrikaans-only environment.
What makes this clear is the dispute between the Mpumalanga education
department and the Ermelo High School governing body, which has
objected to the Afrikaans-medium school being forced to admit about
100 black Grade 8 pupils who want to be taught in English. Like the
Afrikaans-speaking parents whose children attend the school, many (but
by no means all) Afrikaners feel strongly that their children should
be taught in an Afrikaans-only school.

There is nothing wrong with this but no community can make this demand
of the education department when there are children who need places at
a public school and SA allows private education. South African society
is, slowly, becoming more racially integrated and -- sadly for
Afrikaans, a language I love -- many black parents want their children
to learn, and be taught, in English. They have that right. For myriad
reasons, some schools in SA have lost pupils and so have the capacity
to take on more. If there are children in the area who do not have a
school to go to, a public school that has extra pupil capacity cannot,
ethically, try to keep them out.


Full story:

http://allafrica.com/stories/200801250066.html



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