Mpumalanga (South Africa): Schools language rights back in court again

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Friday, 23 February 2007

Schools language rights back in court again

Sue Blaine

Education Correspondent

SCHOOL governing bodies power to determine their schools language policy
is back in the spotlight as the Mpumalanga education department and a high
school in the province are thrashing out the issue in the Pretoria High
Court. The legal tussle has been complicated by Education Minister Naledi
Pandor joining the fray. She argued in papers filed last week that, apart
from childrens right to be taught, and in the language of their choice,
her departments ability to provide schools is being hampered by SAs cement
shortage.

Government and parents have gone head to head on the language issue a
number of times. Just this month, Ermelo High School, an Afrikaans-only
high school, turned to the Pretoria High Court a day after the Mpumalanga
education department said it would have to enrol 113 pupils who wanted to
be taught in English. Some Afrikaners, and the Democratic Alliance (DA),
take a dim view of governments attempts to accommodate children who want
to be taught in English in single-medium Afrikaans schools, and then
attempt to change the schools language policies.

My biggest problem is that the minister herself is in favour of
mother-tongue education; she propagates it, said DA arts and culture
spokeswoman Desiree van der Walt. The DA has gone as far as to claim that
government is attacking the Afrikaner community via its schools. Its so
blatant. Ermelo is a large, conservative Afrikaans community and they have
a history of sending their children to Ermelo High School. Its one of only
two or three Afrikaans-medium schools left in Mpumalanga. There is a
tendency across SA to attack Afrikaans and the Afrikaans community, said
Anthony Benadie, the DAs education spokesman for Mpumalanga. There are
only two single-medium Afrikaans schools left in Mpumalanga. It is our
constitutional right to (have our children taught in Afrikaans).  Its not
about black and white; we have black children in the school, but they are
taught in Afrikaans, said Johan Ernst, chairman of Ermelo High Schools
governing body.

Prof Vic Webb, who runs Pretoria University's Centre for Research in the
Politics of Language, is not so sure that there is a direct attack on
Afrikaans. There are no facts available. It's all suspicions ... I can't
say there is an attack on Afrikaans, and I can't say there is not.
English-medium schools were not under the same pressure as
Afrikaans-medium schools because most black pupils wanted to be taught in
English and could more easily be accommodated in English-medium schools,
he said. Judge Bill Prinsloo's interim order, granted on February 2, froze
Mpumalanga education MEC Siphosezwe Masangos instruction that Ermelo High
School enrol 113 children the provincial government claims cannot be
placed in the other schools in the area. Prinsloo ruled that his interim
order should stand until a full hearing on the matter was held. Lawyers
involved in the case said they expected a full hearing to be held some
time in April.

Pandor clearly felt that was too long to wait. Her department filed papers
last week highlighting the cement and skills problem. The minister was
joined by Ncane Elizabeth Masilela, the mother of one of the ousted 113
pupils. Masilela claimed her child's constitutional right to education,
and in the language of her choice, was being infringed by the schools
language policy and its refusal to admit children who were not prepared to
be taught in Afrikaans.

The Mpumalanga education department wanted the children accepted into the
school because the other high schools in and around Ermelo were
overcrowded, said provincial education department spokesman Hlahla
Ngwenya. We thought we were acting for the benefit of the majority, he
said. Prinsloo, whose order Pandor and Masilela want set aside, ruled that
there was prima facie evidence the department acted too hastily when it
withdrew the school governing bodys power to determine the schools
language policy.  There had been almost no consultation and the move was
made almost without warning, Prinsloo said.

The department gave the responsibility for determining Ermelo High Schools
language policy to a committee of five people, which it appointed. The
committee had been told to ensure its decision made provision for the
school to enrol the pupils who wanted to be taught in English, Ernst said.
This has also outraged the DA. It is shocking ... that the department
instructed this committee what the outcome of their investigation or
review must be, said Benadie. Prinsloo's ruling is not the first that has
been made in favour of school governing bodies right to determine their
schools language policies, which is spelt out in the South African Schools
Act.

In June 2005, the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld a Cape High Court ruling
that Western Cape education MEC Cameron Dugmore could not force Mikro
Primary School, an Afrikaans-medium school in Kuils River, to accommodate
21 pupils who wanted to be taught in English. Judge Wilfred Thring had
ruled that there were other schools in the area at which the children
could be taught in English. About the same time the Kimberley High Court
ruled that school governing bodies right to set their schools language
policies was not absolute.

The court upheld the Northern Cape education departments decision to order
that three of the provinces high schools turn dual medium to relieve
overcrowding in the one English-medium school in the area.

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/topstories.aspx?ID=BD4A383868

***********************************************************************************

N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members
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.

***********************************************************************************