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<h1 class="gmail-bold">ConCourt rejects UFS appeal over language policy </h1>
<span id="gmail-spnDate" class="gmail-block gmail-datestamp">2016-09-28 20:19</span>
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<p class="gmail-left">Jeanette Chabalala, News24</p>
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<article id="gmail-article-body" class="gmail-clr_left"><p>Bloemfontein – The Constitutional Court has rejected an appeal by
the University of the Free State against a High Court ruling halting
implementation of its proposed language policy.</p><p>"The
Constitutional Court has considered this application for leave to appeal. It
has concluded that the application should be dismissed as it not in the
interest of justice to hear it at this stage," it said in its judgment
dated September 21.</p><p>The UFS
would now approach the Supreme Court of Appeal. </p><p>Earlier
this year, the university decided to make English the primary medium of
instruction from 2017, while providing sufficient scope for multilingualism.</p><p>The
university's council said English would be the primary medium of instruction at
undergraduate and postgraduate level on the three campuses in Bloemfontein and
QwaQwa.</p><p>Multilingualism
would be supported by an expanded tutorial system designed for first-year
students. In professional programmes, parallel-medium teaching in English,
Afrikaans, Sesotho and isiZulu would continue.</p><p>These
included teacher education and the training of theology students who wished to
enter the ministry in traditional Afrikaans-speaking churches, where there was
a clear market need.</p><p>However,
in July, the High Court in Bloemfontein ruled in favour of civil rights group
AfriForum’s bid to stop the university from implementing this policy.</p><p style="margin:0cm 0cm 12pt"><strong>‘Afrikaans must not inevitably
be replaced’</strong></p><p style="margin:0cm 0cm 12pt">At the time, Judge Fouche Jordaan said: "The fact that
English has been introduced at the UFS, which was a historical Afrikaans
university, as a language of instruction, does not mean that Afrikaans must
inevitably be replaced by English as the dominant language of
instruction."</p><p>Jordaan
said the UFS council had not considered constitutional issues involved.</p><p>While
Afrikaans might be a barrier to black students, English was a barrier to many
coloured students who had been victims of past discrimination. A move that
decreased the Afrikaans offering would negatively affect them, he said.</p><p>On
September 12, High Court Deputy Judge President Fikile Mokgohloa granted the
university leave to appeal its July ruling.</p><p>"The
judgment of this court delivered on [July 21] remains in force and is in
operation pending the finalisation of the appeals," said Mokgohloa.</p><p>During
arguments in the High Court, Jeremy Gauntlett SC, for the university, told a
full bench of judges that AfriForum had failed to prove that UFS and most of
its students would suffer irreparable harm should the new language policy be
implemented.</p><p>"The
court was wrong in their decision. It was wrong when they said there was no case
of compulsory segregation. Another court would come to a different conclusion.</p><p><strong>Students don't feel welcome</strong></p><p>"There
were persistent complaints from students about campus culture and that they do
not feel welcome," Gauntlett said.</p><p>However,
Johan du Toit SC, for AfriForum, said justice should be done for students who
had already registered in their mother tongue.</p><p>AfriForum
and trade union Solidarity on Wednesday welcomed the Constitutional Court’s
decision.</p><p>Deputy
chief executive Alana Bailey said their legal team was ready for UFS’s appeal
to the Supreme Court of Appeal.</p><p>“Nonetheless,
it is tragic that the UFS management is stubbornly continuing with the case,
despite the court’s clear ruling that the new language policy was
discriminating and would deter students from applying to study at this
institution."</p><p>Solidarity
and AfriForum appealed to prospective Afrikaans students at
the university to indicate in their applications that they wanted to
study in Afrikaans.</p><p><a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/concourt-rejects-ufs-appeal-over-language-policy-20160928">http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/concourt-rejects-ufs-appeal-over-language-policy-20160928</a><br></p></article><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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