[lg policy] South Africa: Without additional state funding, the University of Stellenbosch gambles with future of Afrikaans

[Harold Schiffman]

Without additional state funding, the US gambles with future of Afrikaans
Alana Bailey - Friday, November 20, 2009

The civil rights initiative AfriForum has just sent an urgent missive
to the Rector and Management of the University of Stellenbosch (US) in
which this organisation expresses serious concerns about the language
plan which the US intends implementing in 2010. AfriForum is of the
opinion that unless additional funding for the promotion of
multilingualism is allocated to the university by the State, the
burden on the resources of the US will become too heavy in the long
run and it will be compelled (like, for example, the UJ, UWC and UP)
to Anglicise increasingly.

According to Alana Bailey, Deputy CEO of AfriForum, her organisation
emphasises in the letter that it acknowledges the facts that the US’
language policy itself is not being changed at this stage, that the
mediums of instruction offered by faculties are being quantified and
that the university intends to ensure that the language policy and
plan will be implemented properly by means of pro-active management.
However, AfriForum still regards the US’s conversion to parallel
medium education in 2010, without any fixed undertakings by the State
to make additional funding available for the promotion of
multilingualism, as reckless gambling with the future of Afrikaans. It
is not a sustainable option and alas, as history has proven, not a
reversible process either. AfriForum therefore urgently appeals to the
Management of the US to reconsider the position of Afrikaans at the
university.

The vehement reaction of the public to any efforts by the US to create
more room for English medium education, according to Bailey can
largely be ascribed to the fact that the managements of other
universities in the past had also tried to present well-considered and
motivated arguments in favour of multilingualism and the protection of
Afrikaans in their language plans, but every time the public had to
experience in practice that Afrikaans staff and students received
little support, and became more and more alienated on increasingly
Anglicised campuses. They do not want to see the US following the same
route.

AfriForum has also offered to support the university’s management in
any requests to the Department of Higher Education and Training for
additional funding. AfriForum is still waiting for the US’ response.


The views expressed are those of the writer and not Richmark Sentinel,

http://www.therichmarksentinel.com/rs_articles.asp?catid=2&recid=928
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