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<h1 class="gmail-headline__title">The Language Debate In Gauteng Schools Is Far From Over</h1>
<h2 class="gmail-headline__subtitle">The Gauteng education
department has asked parents to apply at any nearby school, regardless
of language medium – but has encountered immediate opposition. </h2>
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<p>Single-medium schools may have to revise
their language policies if the Gauteng education department has its way.
Steve Mabona, spokesperson for the department, says the online system
for 2019 admissions allows parents to apply at any school, "regardless
of the main language of instruction used at [that] school".</p>
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<p>Speaking to HuffPost, Mabona said the demographic population of
communities has changed. "We don't have an area where, for example,
there are only Afrikaans people residing on their own.</p>
<p>"We have a diversified community; one that is welcome to stay
anywhere they want – so there is no reason for them to travel to schools
that are far, when there is a school within their radius they can
access".</p>
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<p>Mabona said parents applying to schools of their choice will allow
the department to collect the statistics and demographics necessary to
hold talks with relevant schools in the hopes of accommodating every
pupil, without language being a barrier.</p>
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<p>"We as a department can therefore go to the school and engage with
them so that the SGB can accommodate them by changing their language
policy to a parallel medium," he added.</p>
<p></p>
<p>MEC for Gauteng education Panyaza Lesufi launched the 2019 <a href="https://www.gdeadmissions.gov.za/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">online learner admissions registrations</a> for grades 1 and 8 on Monday at 8am.</p>
<p>"This year we have enhanced the system, especially at high-pressure
schools [schools with high numbers], which means that that the system
will inform those applying if a school already has high numbers of
learners," Mabona said.</p>
<p>He added that protest events, such as the one at Hoërskool Overvaal
earlier this year, were one of the reasons why applications opened
earlier this year, in the hope that, "if there are glitches they can be
attended to well in advance".</p>
<blockquote class="gmail-pull-quote">The department's move to say parents must
apply for their children at any school without language being a barrier
is not a positive move – Carien Bloem, AfriForum.</blockquote>
<p>Mabona insists there is nothing wrong with the department wanting to
interact with schools with regard to their language policies, and that
they are not envisaging causing "any kind of stir".</p>
<p>"All we are saying is that we will interact with schools and say this
is where we are at, what is your take as the school? If the SGB say
they will need to introduce additional teachers so that they can
accommodate other languages in the schools, or will need furniture and
material, we will support them," he said.</p>
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<p>Congress of South African Students (Cosas) national president John
Macheke said the congress supports the decision the Gauteng department
has made.</p>
<p>"As Cosas we are also saying parents must go and apply for at any
school, because we know that soon enough we will champion
multilingualism in schools, and it is for that reason that we are happy.</p>
<p>The congress also commended the change that the Gauteng MEC for
education is bringing to Gauteng, referencing the the "one child, one
tablet" project.</p>
<p>"It shows that Gauteng MEC Panyaza Lesufi is ready to take us to the
fourth industrial revolution and to change Gauteng education," Macheke
said.</p>
<p>However, AfriForum's Carien Bloem says the department is giving
parents false hope, adding that any changes would not happen
immediately, which will then affect children.</p>
<p></p>
<p>"The department's move to say parents must apply for their children
at any school without language being a barrier is not a positive move
... schools will not instantly change their language policies.</p>
<p></p>
<p>"At least 50 percent of the school must speak a certain language
before the language policies can be changed. It is not an easy process,"
Bloem said.</p>
<p>Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (Fedsas) CEO
Paul Colditz said the department's take on interacting with schools
regarding their language policies has serious challenges, and would make
the daily runnings of schools "extremely difficult", because changing
the language policies of a single-medium school to parallel-medium is a
process.</p>
<p>"There is no way that the department of education can provide things
such as equipment or study material or add the classes necessary to
accommodate all learners in those schools by the end of the year."</p>
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<p>Colditz said there are also additional facilities for the school
environment, such as sewerage and safety systems, that the department
would have to consider.</p>
<p>"There are a number of issues with regard to the department's take on insisting on interacting with schools regarding language.</p>
<p>"Let's take a primary school for example. If you have to admit
learners in an Afrikaans school (and it works in all other schools too),
then it means you have to establish a separate classroom for English
learners. Eventually, over a period of seven years, you will have to
have seven different classes. That can be a serious problem with regards
to the capacity of the school.</p>
<p>"Another problem would be financing and teacher supply. Schools are
funded on the basis that all schools are single-medium schools, so if
you are an English- or an Afrikaans-only school, you get sufficient
funding from the department based on that. The moment you have more than
one language, teaching becomes more expensive, because of additional
materials, classes and teachers. That is not an overnight process," he
said.</p></div></div></article></div></div></div></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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