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<h1 class="">Stellenbosch language policy 'in interest of students' rights'</h1>
<span id="spnDate" class="">2016-05-12 13:55</span>
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<p>Cape Town - Stellenbosch University acted in the interests
of all of its students' constitutional right to education by revising its language
policy to accommodate students who did not speak Afrikaans, according to a
report into the reasons for the change in the policy.</p><p><a href="http://www.netwerk24.com/Nuus/Onderwys/us-tree-in-belang-van-studente-se-regte-op-20160511">Netwerk24</a> reported on Thursday that Craig Howie, retired
judge president of the Supreme Court of Appeal, had compiled a 24-page report
into the language policy. </p><p><strong>- See the full report below.</strong></p><p>In November 2015, Stellenbosch University announced that all learning
at the institution <a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/maties-senate-likes-english-20151128">would be in English</a>, as it was the common language in the
country. It added that "substantial academic support" would be
provided in other South African languages, according to students' needs.</p><p>Howie wrote that university management had been
"motivated to maintain and preserve the function, reputation and welfare
of the university without infringing on any students' constitutional
rights". </p><p>Had it not taken such "anti-exclusionary decisions and
action", the university would have been vulnerable to a constitutional
challenge by students not proficient in Afrikaans. </p><p>However, the university had in the process opened itself up
to legal action by Afrikaans students who wanted to be taught in their
home language, Howie observed.</p><p>"It is no small irony that, having taken those steps,
it felt vulnerable to the court challenges mounted by Afrikaans students but
this only serves to highlight the wisdom of having instituted the current
review process aimed at amendment of the policy and plan."</p><p>AfriForum Youth has opposed the revision of the policy,
saying it disregarded almost half of the Western Cape's residents, who were
Afrikaans speaking. The application will be heard in the Western Cape High
Court on May 19.</p><p><strong>- Read more: <a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/hearing-over-maties-language-policy-revision-set-down-for-next-month-20160415">Hearing over Maties language policy revision set down for May 19</a></strong></p><p><a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/stellenbosch-language-policy-in-interest-of-students-rights-20160512">http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/stellenbosch-language-policy-in-interest-of-students-rights-20160512</a><br><strong></strong></p><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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