<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="">Language policy raises hackles</h1>
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May 17 2013 at 03:21pm <br>
By Mpume Madlala
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<img src="http://www.iol.co.za/polopoly_fs/ukzn-howard-campus-1.1484477%21/image/1590967182.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_300/1590967182.jpg" alt="UKZN Howard Campus" title="" class="">
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<p class="">Students are seen at the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Howard College campus. File photo: Gcina Ndwalane</p>
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<p class="">Durban - Apartheid
under a different guise - that’s the damning description some critics,
parents and educationists have used for a new University of
KwaZulu-Natal requirement that students tackle a compulsory Zulu module.
</p>
<p class="">The university announced this week
that all students registering for undergraduate degrees from next year
will, unless they get exemption, be required to pass or obtain a credit
for a prescribed Zulu module before they can graduate. </p>
<p class="">Among those angry at the
“watershed” rule, which has been approved in principle, was the chairman
of the South Durban region of the KZN Parents’ Association, Vee Gani. </p>
<p class="">He said it was wrong for the university to suddenly force the language on students. </p>
<p class="">“Students must be afforded the
opportunity to choose for themselves if they want to take Zulu as a
language. If they go ahead with this, it is going to be a problem,” he
said. </p>
<p class="">Gani said hearing of the
university’s plans, he was reminded of the 1976 Soweto Uprising, where
hundreds of pupils revolted against being forcefully taught in
Afrikaans. </p>
<p class="">“If you
look at this, it is exactly the same thing, just that it is now Zulu.
The university is trying to do the very same thing many children died
fighting for, having a language forced on you,” he said. </p>
<p class="">People in this country have rights, and they include the freedom of choice, Gani said. </p>
<p class="">“What the university is planning
is apartheid of a different nature. I resent this because in a country
where there is democracy, no one has the right to force anyone to do
something,” Gani said. </p>
<p class="">The rule, said Gani, would lead
to many students leaving the country and studying overseas. “What is the
university preparing our children for? They can’t force the language
down people’s throats,” he said. </p>
<p class="">National Professional Teachers’
Organisation of SA KZN chief executive Anthony Pierce said no one could
be compelled to adopt a language. </p>
<p class="">“We have a democratic constitution
which allows people the freedom of choice. This should be an
individual’s choice, and it is not up to the university to decide for
people,” he said. </p>
<p class="">Pierce
said he was not against promotion of indigenous languages, but said the
approach to which it was done should be looked at. </p>
<p class="">“Learning a new language is a process. People feel offended when you speak their language incorrectly,” he said. </p>
<p class="">Pierce said this rule needed to be thought out carefully. </p>
<p class="">The deputy president of the
National Teachers’ Union, Allen Thompson, said that it was going to be
tough teaching adults Zulu from scratch, and compelling them to do so
would make it still harder. </p>
<p class="">School Governing Bodies chairman
Reginald Chiliza said he trusted the decision by the university to have
been well researched, but felt learning a language should not be made
compulsory. </p>
<p class="">Chiliza said as far as he was
aware, the majority of people in the province were Zulu speaking, but
this did not mean Zulu should be compulsory for everyone else,” he said.
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<p class=""><a href="mailto:mpume.madlala@inl.co.za">mpume.madlala@inl.co.za</a> <br></p><p class=""><a href="http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/language-policy-raises-hackles-1.1517783#.UZf25UrAGSo">http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/language-policy-raises-hackles-1.1517783#.UZf25UrAGSo</a><br>
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