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<h1 id="content_title">War talk won’t end language row</h1>
<p>05 Jun 2015 00:00
<a class="" href="http://mg.co.za/author/mary-metcalfe-1">Mary Metcalfe</a></p>
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<p>Wise leadership is needed to solve the crisis over the medium of instruction controversy in Gauteng.</p>
<a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2015-06-05-war-talk-wont-end-language-row" title="">
<img src="http://cdn.mg.co.za/crop/content/images/2015/06/05/graphic-metcalfeedit_landscape.jpg/676x380/" alt="Graphic: John McCann" height="380" width="676">
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<div id="body_content"><p style>Politics
is the art of compromise. For moral purists, this represents a cynical
assessment of the unprincipled compromises that politicians are
perceived to make.</p><p style>In the real world, tensions between
competing or apparently irreconcilable views that cannot be resolved by
argument alone require sufficient agreement as a way to move forward.
Court judgments cannot resolve the underlying conflicting beliefs and
assumptions that have led to the dispute. The determination of winners
and losers exacerbates divisions.</p><div id="tt-wrapper39d977e" class="" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;height:0px;text-align:center;max-width:100%;min-width:230px;overflow:hidden"> <div id="tt-mention39d977e" class="" style>ADVERTISING</div><div id="tt-container39d977e" class="" style> </div> </div><p style>The
current dispute about the imposition of English as a parallel medium of
instruction in Afrikaans-medium schools in Gauteng is an instance of
competing views, each passionately held and each with its own logic. </p><p style>On
May 14, the Gauteng department of education announced that high-quality
education infrastructure in the province is underused because
demographic profiles have changed, and single-medium schools would be
converted to parallel-medium schools to achieve maximum use of all
available educational space. </p><p>The MEC said consultations would commence with the affected 124 schools. </p><p style>But
before that could begin, and because of a leaked list of the affected
schools, the Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools
(Fedsas) brought an urgent application challenging the decision. On May
27, the Johannesburg high court ruled in favour of Fedsas. </p><p style><strong>Tatters<br></strong>Public
engagement has been adversarial, and the consultations, which were to
address potential fears and challenges, were in tatters before they
began. </p><p style>Wise leadership is needed to find a way to bridge
the competing views and overcome the combative postures to advance the
common good.</p><p style>The issue of medium of instruction is
complex. The Constitution is clear that everyone has the right to
receive education in an official language of choice. This expresses the
educational imperative for children to learn in a language in which
they have full fluency and the constitutional right of participation in
the linguistic and cultural life of choice. </p><p style>The
administration of the public education system must give reasonable
expression to this in a way that is equitable and practical. Our current
reality is that, from grade four, although fewer than 10% of children
use English as their home language, more than 80% are taught in English.
</p><p style>In linguistically complex urban townships, many
children in grades one to three are learning in an African language that
is not their first language. This has enormous educational
disadvantages.</p><p style>It also contributes to a frustration that
African languages have not yet been accorded the parity of esteem and
educational status intended in the Constitution, and that the
historically privileged continue to learn in their own languages, with
the positive educational consequences that brings. </p><p style><strong>Desegregating<br></strong>The
overwhelming choice of English as the medium of instruction by African
pupils has had a major effect on the racial desegregation of what were
historically white schools. </p><p style>With very few African pupils
choosing to study in Afrikaans, schools historically serving white
Afrikaans-speaking pupils have been slower to desegregate than
English-medium white schools, creating an impression of islands of white
privilege, and a perception that language exclusion operates as a proxy
for racial exclusion. </p><p style>Not only is the danger one of
perceived exclusion, but also of real isolation from the rich social
diversity of the country, and an impoverished preparation for
participation in an inclusive society. </p><p style>It is this
perception of exclusion and isolation that is at the heart of the
conflict. For a productive conversation to be possible between the
protagonists, one side needs not only to acknowledge but also to
empathise with the perceptions of exclusion and isolation sufficiently
to contribute to a solution. And the other side must be unequivocal in
affirming language rights and identity and education practicability, and
defend the place for Afrikaans-medium instruction within the public
education system.</p><p style>From 1994, many historically Afrikaans schools have opted to offer parallel streams of English and Afrikaans in one school. </p><p style>But
the educational management of a parallel-medium school is complex,
especially at high school level because of the complexities of
curriculum choice. For parallel-medium schools to be practical, the
numbers of pupils in each stream must be large enough to qualify for
sufficient teachers. </p><p style><strong>The Ermelo case<br></strong>In
2007, the Mpumalanga education department instructed an
Afrikaans-medium school in Ermelo to admit 113 pupils who could not be
accommodated elsewhere and who wished to be taught in English. </p><p style>The
instruction was challenged and the courts required rigorous evidence
that this was a reasonable educational decision. The Constitutional
Court required the department to quantify demand for English medium in
the educational circuit, as well as to outline the administrative action
taken to satisfy this demand. </p><p style>The lesson was clear:
language policy cannot be used unreasonably to exclude anyone, but any
administrative decision to overrule a school’s language policy is
subject to review and, therefore, needs to be reasonable and well
motivated in every case. </p><p style>Reasonableness is used twice in
the language of instruction clause in the Constitution. This is a clear
marker that our courts will adjudicate according to the evidence, and
the actions of the state will be scrutinised for reasonableness.</p><p style>At
the same time, the Constitution is explicit that school language policy
must take into account the need to redress the results of past racial
discrimination. The constitutional principles of equity, practicability
and historical redress can be used to justify a state decision to
overrule the language policy determined by a school governing body if
the educational circumstances reasonably require this. </p><p style>The
tension that must be resolved politically by debate and discussion is
between the legitimate right to a preferred medium of instruction, and
the perceptions of a language policy operating in practice to
discriminate racially. </p><p style><strong>Challenges of perception<br></strong>Ermelo
has taught us that the courts are not the best instrument to resolve
what are challenges of perception, history and the necessity of social
inclusion.</p><p style>This is a matter of enormous importance. It is
a significant moment for asserting that we all belong, that our futures
are intertwined, that our fervently held language and cultural identity
cannot be compromised, but that additional actions must be taken to
give visible expression to our desire to be one with those of different
identities – that, although we may learn in a language-circumscribed
space, we must actively embrace and celebrate diversity in other spaces.
</p><p>A legal war of attrition will not yield this solution. </p><p style>It
must be won through lively and frank discussion and a mutual
determination to find a solution that communicates belonging, that
builds participation in the broader national project and is rooted in a
commitment to the shared values and common goals that gave birth to the
new society that we are still building.</p><p style>To drive this
discussion, we need a leadership that holds these tensions in a
reasonable and inclusive common ground. We need a leadership that
demonstrates the art of principled compromise.</p><p><em>Mary Metcalfe is a visiting adjunct professor at the University of the Witwatersrand’s school of </em><em>governance</em></p><p><a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2015-06-05-war-talk-wont-end-language-row">http://mg.co.za/article/2015-06-05-war-talk-wont-end-language-row</a><br><em></em></p><p><em><br></em></p></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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