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<header><h1>Potch students petition over its language policy</h1><p class="gmail-meta"><a href="https://www.iol.co.za/sundayindependent/news">News</a><span> / </span><span>20 May 2018, 10:00am</span><span> / </span><span><strong>Constance Gaanakgomo</strong></span></p><div><div class="gmail-social-icons"><ul><li><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.iol.co.za%2Fsundayindependent%2Fnews%2Fpotch-students-petition-over-its-language-policy-15069485" title="Share on Facebook"><img src="https://www.iol.co.za/assets/images/social-icons/facebook-rnd-ico.svg" alt="Share on Facebook" id="gmail-article-facebook-share"></a></li><li><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?via=IOL&text=Potch%20students%20petition%20over%20its%20language%20policy&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.iol.co.za%2Fsundayindependent%2Fnews%2Fpotch-students-petition-over-its-language-policy-15069485" title="Share on Twitter"><img src="https://www.iol.co.za/assets/images/social-icons/twitter-rnd-ico.svg" alt="Share on Twitter" id="gmail-article-twitter-share"></a></li><li><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&title=Potch%20students%20petition%20over%20its%20language%20policy&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.iol.co.za%2Fsundayindependent%2Fnews%2Fpotch-students-petition-over-its-language-policy-15069485" title="Share on LinkedIn"><img src="https://www.iol.co.za/assets/images/social-icons/linkedin-rnd-ico.svg" alt="Share on LinkedIn" id="gmail-article-linkedin-share"></a></li><li><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.iol.co.za/sundayindependent/news/potch-students-petition-over-its-language-policy-15069485#email-share" class="gmail-show-popup" title="Share via Email"><img src="https://www.iol.co.za/assets/images/social-icons/email-rnd-ico.svg" alt="Tell a Friend" id="gmail-article-email-share"></a></li></ul></div></div></header><div class="gmail-article-body"><figure><div class="gmail-sixteen-nine"><img class="gmail-imgLandScape" src="https://image.iol.co.za/image/1/process/620x349?source=https://inm-baobab-prod-eu-west-1.s3.amazonaws.com/public/inm/media/image/102830865.JPG" alt="" title="North West University in Potchefstroom teaches mostly in Afrikaans, which non-Afrikaans speaking students say they find difficult to adapt to."></div><figcaption><span class="gmail-imageCaption">North
West University in Potchefstroom teaches mostly in Afrikaans, which
non-Afrikaans speaking students say they find difficult to adapt to.</span></figcaption></figure><div class="gmail-articleBodyMore" id="gmail-article-more-body"><p>Students
at the University of North West’s Potchefstroom campus have expressed
mixed reactions over moves to review its language policy.<br>
It currently uses Afrikaans, which leaves mainly black students having
to rely on translation provided via headphones by the varsity.</p>
<p>Last week, due to the heightened complaints, the university
invited students to sign a petition to express their language
preferences before the matter is taken to a full council for
ratification and approval.</p><div class="gmail-teads-inread gmail-sm-screen" style="margin:16px 0px;height:391px;max-width:610px"><div style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="gmail-teads-ui-components-adchoices" style="display:block"></div><div class="gmail-teads-ui-components-label" style="display:block">ADVERTISING</div><div class="gmail-teads-player" id="gmail-teads0"></div><div id="gmail-moatPxDiv114586" style="width:0px;height:0px"></div><div id="gmail-moatPxDiv613898" style="width:0px;height:0px"></div><div id="gmail-moatPxDiv362317" style="width:0px;height:0px"></div><div id="gmail-moatPxDiv738263" style="width:0px;height:0px"></div><div class="gmail-teads-ui-components-credits" style="display:block"><a href="http://inread-experience.teads.tv" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="gmail-teads-ui-components-credits-colored">inRead</span> invented by Teads</a></div></div></div>
<p>However, the university was likely to face a court challenge should it change its language policy.</p>
<p>Black students want Afrikaans to be scrapped while white students,
mainly Afrikaners, want it to be retained, saying the “majority of
students at the Potchefstroom campus were Afrikaans speaking”.</p><div id="gmail-ad-inarticle-middle"><div id="gmail-google_ads_iframe_/116466607/IOL/sundayindependent/news/potch-students-petition-over-its-language-policy-15069485_4__container__" style="border:0pt none;display:inline-block;width:300px;height:250px"></div></div>
<p>Koketso Kgokong, a second-year human movement science student, said:
“My first year was really difficult. I did my high school education in
English and when I registered at the university, I was forced to attend
the majority of lectures which were in Afrikaans. This made it difficult
to listen and concentrate while the lecturer was teaching,” she said.</p>
<p>She said she didn’t study Afrikaans at high school as she only spoke
English at home with her parents and siblings, saying “getting here is
hard for me to understand and translate English to Afrikaans.”</p>
<p>Jerome Peterson (not his real name) disagrees, saying there was no
language barrier and translators were available. He said a possible move
to English, as a medium of instruction, was unnecessary.</p>
<p>“It won’t be a good idea. It will be the same as destroying a nation.
Why would you have one thing and not different things because more is
better than one. English is a universal language but it also helps to
have other languages.”</p>
<p>Peterson says Afrikaans works at Pukke because the majority are of students are Afrikaners.</p>
<p>“There are a lot of Afrikaans-speaking people in Potch and it is
obvious you are going to get a lot of Afrikaans people on campus.</p>
<p>“If you go to Mahikeng, there are a lot of Tswana-speaking people
there. In Potch, if people prefer Afrikaans, that’s okay. But I don’t
think there should only be one language for everything. They should even
include other languages as well; not just English and Afrikaans, also
Tswana and maybe Zulu.”</p>
<p>Peterson’s sentiments were shared by AfriForum’s deputy chief
executive Alana Bailey, who said the existing structure of three
languages worked across all campuses.</p>
<p>“I hope the university also takes note of the draft language policy
for tertiary institutions published by the Department of Higher
Education and Training. It warns against undesirability of monolingual
public institutions. In other universities, language policy
consultations were based on changing to English as a medium of
instruction.</p>
<p>“Where numerous national and international experts point out, this is
not the way to go, and this draft policy seems to concur. NWU will,
hopefully, be a maverick that will retain its current policy that
accommodates three languages and focus on empowering all of them more.”</p>
<p>Bailey said a move to English may be detrimental to the varsity.</p>
<p>“When looking at how our universities drop back on international
ranking lists, it is obvious that being an English university brings no
improvement to the quality of education offered.</p>
<p>“We are continually disempowering 90% of South Africans by only
empowering the home language of 10% - the first language English
speakers,” Bailey said.</p>
<p>But Thabiso Meko (not his real name) a second-year management science
student, was adamant the language policy must change to accommodate
black students.</p>
<p>Meko said during his first year, even their orientation, was conducted in Afrikaans.</p>
<p>“We basically live in a country where English is like our first
language. We should just use one language were we can all understand
each other, which is one basic language.</p>
<p>“With English, we all hear the same message and taught the same way.
I’m being taught in Afrikaans but Gert is the only guy that understands
in class. What about me?”</p></div></div>
<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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