[lg policy] South Africa: Court sets aside UFS’s new language policy

[Harold Schiffman]

 Court sets aside UFS’s new language policy

Thursday 21 July 2016 12:02

Teboho Letshaba
[image: In March, the University Council reached a unanimous decision to
have English as the primary medium of instruction from 2017.]

In March, the University Council reached a unanimous decision to have
English as the primary medium of instruction from 2017.(SABC)
Tags:

   - Free State
   <http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/news/main/tag?tag=Free%20State>
   - Bloemfontein
   <http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/news/main/tag?tag=Bloemfontein>
   - The University of the Free State
   <http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/news/main/tag?tag=The%20University%20of%20the%20Free%20State>
   - UFS <http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/news/main/tag?tag=UFS>
   - The Free State High Court
   <http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/news/main/tag?tag=The%20Free%20State%20High%20Court>
   - AfriForum
   <http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/news/main/tag?tag=AfriForum>
   - Teboho Letshaba
   <http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/news/main/tag?tag=Teboho%20Letshaba>
   - Jonathan Jansen
   <http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/news/main/tag?tag=Jonathan%20Jansen>

The Free State High Court in Bloemfontein has set aside the decision by the
University of the Free State (UFS) to have English as the sole medium of
instruction.

Civil movement AfriForum challenged the proposed language policy
<http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/52ba33804c0f6b03a8c6ad86af38e8be/UFSundefinedreadyundefinedtoundefineddefendundefinednewundefinedlanguageundefinedpolicy-20161703>change,
arguing that the removal of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction was
inconsistent with the law.

In March, the University Council reached a unanimous decision to have
English as the primary medium of instruction from 2017.

It is unclear at this stage if the university will oppose the order.

The university announced in April that English would be the sole language
of instruction on campus.

AfriForum filed a 110-page affidavit to the Free State High Court in which
they stated that outgoing UFS vice chancellor and Rector Prof Jonathan
Jansen confirmed in the past that Afrikaans would be safe for as long as he
remained at the university.

However, AfriForum argued that Jansen and the University Council  reneged
on their promise.

A full bench of judges Ronald Hendricks of the North West High Court,
Limpopo Deputy Judge President Fikile Mokgohloa and Acting High Court Judge
Motimele presided on the matter.

http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/3c82e2804d92c77f871dc74bb456f37b/Court-sets-aside-UFSs-new-language-policy-20160721


-- 
**************************************
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, and to write
directly to the original sender of any offensive message.  A copy of this
may be forwarded to this list as well.  (H. Schiffman, Moderator)

For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
listinfo/lgpolicy-list
*******************************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lgpolicy-list/attachments/20160721/554a8612/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list