[lg policy] South Africa: New language policy to be piloted at 15 schools

[Harold Schiffman]

New language policy to be piloted at 15 schools

January 15 2014 at 10:01am
By Kevin Lancaster

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story<http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/new-language-policy-to-be-piloted-at-15-schools-1.1631763#comments_start>
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Durban - Teachers and pupils at 15 schools across KwaZulu-Natal not only
face the pressure of ensuring a smooth first day of school, but bear the
responsibility of making or breaking the Department of Education’s third
African language policy on Wednesday.

The three-language plan – which was postponed in August – was scheduled for
a “full-scale implementation” this year. But soon afterwards it was
announced that a pilot project consisting of 15 schools from the Umlazi,
Pinetown and Umgungundlovu schooling districts would determine whether the
project would be rolled out next year.

“The schools volunteered for this and they are generally schools that
perform well. Therefore we do not see a problem with the administration of
the project,” said Department of Education HOD Nkosinathi Sishi.

He said the department was ready to help the schools test the policy.

The policy was billed as an attempt to promote multilingualism and foster
social cohesion. At the time educationists warned that, practically, it
could not be done, given the timetable and shortage of teachers.

“The DA fully supports the department on this,” said the DA spokesman on
education, Tom Stokes, adding that his concern that there would not be
enough time to implement the plan.

The head of the Governing Body Foundation, Tim Gordon, said that to rush
the project into schools would be “damaging, to say the least”, and the
department should be commended for taking concerns on the three-language
policy into account.

* On the department’s reported financial difficulties involving money owed
to private education training institute Sants, Sishi said the department’s
legal team had “no intention” of not fulfilling the obligation to pay out
more than 1 000 student bursaries.

“We supplied bursaries to students and that is the issue. Sants is a new
player in the field and we need to make sure they are of high quality and
the qualifications students receive will be recognised,” said Sishi.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/new-language-policy-to-be-piloted-at-15-schools-1.1631763#.UtbJR7RfYok




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