[EDLING:1746] South Africa: Schools Language Policy Comes Under the Spotlight

[Francis M Hult]

Via lg-policy...

> Schools Language Policy Comes Under the Spotlight
> 
> BuaNews (Tshwane)
> Posted to the web July 31, 2006
> 
> By Clive Ndou
> Cape Town
> 
> Education Minister Naledi Pandor has expressed concern over the declining
> use of Indigenous languages in schools, saying they were increasingly
> being relegated to the periphery of "our education system". Quoting from a
> recently published Human Science Research Council (HSRC)  survey on South
> African social attitudes, Ms Pandor said English was being accorded a far
> more superior status compared to African languages. "English is the
> language of perceived potential upward education mobility among almost all
> black Africans, and African languages, even at the lowest levels in the
> system, are considered as having a subsidiary role that diminishes yet
> further as the black child climbs through the system," she said.
> 
> Speaking during the opening of a forum to discuss the implementation of
> the department of education's language policy here today, Ms Pandor called
> on language experts as well as academics to come up with guidelines on how
> best neglected languages could be promoted. "The benefits that language
> diversity confers on any society far outstrip any advantages that
> mono-lingualism may offer. "We need to probe what our educational policy
> makers can do to prevent the neglect of African languages in the education
> system," she said.
> 
> Despite having been adopted nine years ago, the language policy is yet to
> be fully implemented. Ms Pandor cited lack of resources and fears by some
> parents as some of the stumbling blocks. "Resources have not been made
> available in amounts that would give effect to the policy. "There has also
> been poor responsiveness to fears that parents have about perceived
> imposition of old style apartheid education." She said it was not true
> that the implementation of the policy would result in children having a
> bad command of the English language.
> 
> "It is important to repeat that the policy does not, as some have claimed,
> deny children the opportunity to acquire English or any other second
> language. "Rather it is empowering through the assertion that
> language-learning opportunities must be made available in all the official
> languages of South Africa," she said.
> 
> http://allafrica.com/stories/200607311641.html