[lg policy] AfriForum welcomes Ho ërskool Ermelo’s victory in Constitutional Court

[Harold Schiffman]

AfriForum welcomes Hoërskool Ermelo’s victory in Constitutional Court

Kallie Kriel - Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The civil rights initiative AfriForum – that assisted Hoërskool Ermelo
with funding for legal costs in the school’s struggle to remain an
Afrikaans-medium school – welcomed the ruling of the Constitutional
Court in favour of this school, as a victory for both mother-tongue
education, as well as the rights of Afrikaans schools. According to
Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, the Constitutional Court has confirmed
that government had acted irregularly when forcing Hoërskool Ermelo to
change its language policy. “The authorities were even prepared to
exceed their powers in order to drive an ideologically-motivated
vendetta against Afrikaans schools,” Kriel added.

AfriForum’s view that the education authorities are specifically
targeting Afrikaans schools, according to Kriel is substantiated by
the fact that nationally not a single example can be found of a
minister or education authority stepping in to change the language
policy of a single-medium English secondary school. “Contrary to this
approach, the Minister and authorities deemed it necessary to deploy
the full might of the State in order to try to ensure that Hoërskool
Ermelo anglicises,” Kriel said.

Kriel reiterated that AfriForum has the greatest possible sympathy
with the masses of children in the country who do not have access to
good education. “The argument about access has however been abused as
a handy excuse only in order to strip Hoërskool Ermelo of its status
as Afrikaans school, as sufficient facilities exist in the school's
vicinity to accommodate learners who prefer English as medium of
education,” Kriel said. According to Kriel, the authorities have
created an artificial demand for English education in order to promote
an anti-Afrikaans agenda.

Kriel mentioned that numerous examples can be found which prove that
the transition to a double-medium system is the first step towards a
single-medium English institution, especially in view of the
demographic realities of South Africa. The fact that a mere 19 of the
150 graduate courses of the University of Pretoria are still available
in Afrikaans, according to Kriel is a striking example in this regard.
“The demand for single-medium Afrikaans institutions therefore cannot
be reduced to an effort to keep speakers of other languages out of
schools at all,” Kriel stated.


http://www.therichmarksentinel.com/rs_articles_contributors.asp?conid=12&recid=710
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