<div dir="ltr"><h2><span itemprop="name">Fedsas: Judgment on UFS language policy implicates entire education sector</span></h2>
<p class="">A court ruled in favour of AfriForum and Solidarity to stop a proposed change to the UFS’s language policy.</p>
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<img src="http://ewn.co.za/cdn/-%2fmedia%2fEB5637E27D5A40909B5DBBB6B4251BA4.ashx%3fas%3d1%26h%3d289%26w%3d463%26crop%3d1;wa1581c58b49f4bb6e" alt="A statue of colonial statesman Marthinus Steyn was vandalised during protests on the University of the Free State's Bloemfontein campus. Picture: Reinart Toerien/EWN." itemprop="image" height="289" width="463">
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<div class=""><span>FILE: The University of the Free State's Bloemfontein campus. Picture: Reinart Toerien/EWN.</span>
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<ul><li style="display:inline-block"><a href="http://ewn.co.za/Topic/AfriForum">AfriForum</a></li><li style="display:inline-block"><a href="http://ewn.co.za/Topic/Solidarity">Solidarity</a></li><li style="display:inline-block"><a href="http://ewn.co.za/Topic/University-of-the-Free-State">University of the Free State</a></li></ul>
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<div class=""><span itemprop="author"><a href="http://ewn.co.za/Contributors/Thando-Kubheka">Thando Kubheka</a></span> | <abbr id="mainplaceholder_0_abbrCreateDate" class="" title="3 hours ago">about 4 hours ago</abbr></div>
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<span itemprop="articleBody"></span></p><p>JOHANNESBURG - The Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (Fedsas) says a judgment on the <a href="http://ewn.co.za/Topic/University-of-the-Free-State-UFS" target="_blank">University of the Free State</a>’s language policy has important implications for the entire education sector.</p>
<p>Yesterday, the High Court in Bloemfontein <a href="http://ewn.co.za/2016/07/21/AfriForum-wins-bid-to-halt-language-policy-changes-at-UFS" target="_blank">ruled in favour of lobby groups AfriForum and Solidarity </a>to stop a proposed change to the university’s current language policy.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, the institution reached a unanimous decision to make English the primary medium of instruction from 2017.<br>
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But last month, the groups told a full bench of judges that the removal
of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction at the institution was a <a href="http://ewn.co.za/2016/07/22/Lobby-groups-satisfied-by-High-Court-ruling-over-UFS-language-policy" target="_blank">violation of the Constitution</a>.</p>
<p>Fedsas’ Jaco Deacon says <a href="http://ewn.co.za/2016/03/15/Solidarity--Afriforum-to-oppose-new-UFS-language-policy" target="_blank">mother tongue education must be promoted </a>both at schools and at institutions of higher education.</p>
<p>“The court’s ruling is clear that when you consider the language
option, you must consider the best interests of the current learners who
are the best students at the institution and you cannot simply take
a language right way from learners.”</p>
<p>(Edited by Winnie Theletsane)</p><p><a href="http://ewn.co.za/2016/07/22/Fedsas-UFS-language-policy-implicates-the-entire-education-sector">http://ewn.co.za/2016/07/22/Fedsas-UFS-language-policy-implicates-the-entire-education-sector</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="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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