<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="">Defusing Jansen language bomb</h1>
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October 5 2013 at 03:23pm <br>
By Jacques du Preez
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<p class="">INLSA</p>
<p class="">Professor Jonathan Jansens
remarks on the need for instruction in English only was a potential
threat to the countrys racial relations, says the writer. Picture:
Doctor Ngobo</p>
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</ul>
<p class=""><strong>We accept the explanation that Prof
Jeremy Jansen was misquoted as exclusive use of English poses a threat
to racial relations, writes Jacques du Preez</strong> </p>
<p class="">Johannesburg - Remarks by Professor Jonathan
Jansen – rector of the University of the Free State – in the Percy
Baneshik Memorial Lecture to the English Academy of South Africa on
September 18, have caused a furore in Afrikaans cultural and educational
circles. They have been widely interpreted as a call for English-only
education and as a claim that “Afrikaans-exclusive or even
Afrikaans-dominant white schools and universities represent a threat to
race relations in South Africa”. </p>
<p class="">Jansen said “one major solution to the
long-term resolution of the crisis in education” would be to “instruct
every teacher and every child in English from the first day of school
rather than add to the burden of poor instruction in the mother-tongue
in the foundation years to the trauma of transition to English later
on”. </p>
<p class="">Jansen has insisted that “his careful argument on language in education has been distorted to create a media hype”. </p>
<p class="">Nevertheless, it may be helpful to remind
participants in the debate about what the constitution says regarding
language and education. </p>
<p class="">Section 6(1) of the Founding Provisions of the
Constitution enshrines English – along with 10 other languages – as one
of the official languages of the republic. No one disputes that it would
be unconstitutional for any school (or academic institution) to
implement exclusivity on the basis of race and, similarly, if it was
unfair, on the basis of language. Neither does anyone dispute the idea
that English is the lingua franca and thus, as Jansen proposes, should
be the language of reconciliation. </p>
<p class="">However, Jansen’s proposal that a long-term
solution to the education crisis would be exclusive English education –
from the foundation phase – cannot be reconciled with the constitution’s
provision for multilingualism and for the space that it clearly
provides for education in any of our official languages – also in
single-medium education institutions. </p>
<p class="">It can also not be reconciled with UFS’s
language policy – which is based on recognition of the language
provisions in the constitution. </p>
<p class="">Section 29(2) of the Bill of Rights states that
everyone has the right to receive education in public educational
institutions in the official language or languages of their choice,
where that education is reasonably practicable. </p>
<p class="">Consequently, the state must consider all
reasonable educational alternatives, including single medium
institutions, taking into account equity, practicality and the need to
redress the results of past racially discriminatory laws and practices. </p>
<p class="">Section 29(3)(a) of the Bill of Rights is
clear: Everyone has the right to establish and maintain, at their own
expense, independent educational institutions, as long as they do not
discriminate on the basis of race. </p>
<p class="">The South African Schools Act of 1996 – which
applies to all school education in the republic – defines in clear terms
[Section 6(2)] that the governing bodies of public schools determine
the language policy of such schools, subject to the constitution, the
Schools Act and any other applicable provincial legislation. The caveat
on school governing bodies’ prerogative to determine such language
policy can be found in Section 6(3), which determines that no form of
racial discrimination may be practised when a language policy is
established according to this article (of the act). </p>
<p class="">Where a governing body fulfils its duties and
powers in a legal manner concerning the determination of a language
policy and the policy is consistent with the constitution, it can hardly
be said unfair discrimination will follow. </p>
<p class="">Poor mother-tongue education is indeed a
problem (but this is seldom the case in Afrikaans schools). It has also
been shown – fairly conclusively – that mother-tongue education during
the first six to seven years of schooling achieves far better outcomes
than education in a second language – even with regard to learning the
second language (English) in high school. </p>
<p class="">The poor state of mother-tongue teaching could
be addressed by carrying out the provisions of Section 6(2) of the
constitution, which “because of the historically diminished use and
status of the indigenous languages of our people” requires the state to
“take practical and positive measures to elevate the status and advance
the use of these languages”. Mother-tongue education in these languages
and the development of infrastructure in this regard could be viewed as a
form of practical and positive measures to increase the status and use
of those languages. </p>
<p class="">Also, the root of the educational crisis is not
primarily the language of education, but the failure of policy. If we
hypothesise that only English were to be used in our education system as
the medium of education, it still would not help with the education
crisis in the long term. Particularly if pupils are without textbooks
halfway through the academic year, without computers or electricity,
without basic sanitation, without proper classrooms – and with teachers
who do not have basic reading or writing skills – whether in English or
any other language. In this regard Jansen is correct: a race and
class-based system of exclusion is detrimental to poor, black students.
This (and other problems within the education system) touch on the
failure of education policy and have nothing to do with language in a
constitutional order in which all South Africans enjoy equal language
rights. </p>
<p class="">We cannot accept that it was Jansen’s intention
to express views that are so much at variance with the constitution,
his own university’s policy and with his own laudable record in
promoting reconciliation and positive relations between our communities.
</p>
<p class="">Surely, in the light of the tragic experience
of 1976, he did not mean that schoolchildren should once again be forced
to study in a language they do not regard as their own? We must accept
his explanation that “he was misquoted” and that “media hype” is to
blame. </p>
<p class="">* Advocate Jacques du Preez is a director of the FW de Klerk Foundation. </p>
<p class="">** The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Independent Newspapers <br></p><p class=""><a href="http://www.iol.co.za/news/defusing-jansen-language-bomb-1.1587554#.UlG9mBAXjIU">http://www.iol.co.za/news/defusing-jansen-language-bomb-1.1587554#.UlG9mBAXjIU</a><br>
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