Research will be done into the demand for Afrikaans as a medium of school instruction, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor said after talks on Wednesday with a group of Afrikaner representatives.
”The department has committed itself to undertake an analysis of the demand for and interest in Afrikaans as a medium of tuition and the identification and location of schools that offer Afrikaans-medium tuition,” she said in a statement.
”Linked to this will be an analysis of the complex issues of the shifting demography of communities and learners, particularly in urban areas, and the unequal access to quality learning and teaching in maths, science and technology.”
The minister emphasised the right of all children to quality learning and teaching, and gave her ”unequivocal support” for the rights of individuals to mother-tongue tuition in public schools.
Pandor and a number of senior departmental officials earlier met with a group of Afrikaners concerned about the role of Afrikaans in schooling.
The meeting, in Pretoria, was arranged at the request of the FW de Klerk Foundation, and facilitated by the former president.
Pandor said the focus was on two issues — broadening access to top-performing schools, and the place of Afrikaans mother-tongue tuition.
Members of the Afrikaner delegation expressed support for a comprehensive review of education legislation, she said, and for broadening pupils’ access to resources and expertise in Afrikaans-medium schools.
It was agreed to follow up the meeting with further discussions.
At the start of the afternoon’s talks, De Klerk said: ”Our focus is to continue to promote constructive dialogue, solution-oriented dialogue, about burning issues we face in this country.”
De Klerk, who stressed he was acting as facilitator in his capacity as chairperson of the FW de Klerk Foundation, said there is concern about former model-C schools being ”in the crossfire, to a certain extent”.
There is also a need to clarify the role of mother-tongue instruction, particularly in Afrikaans, in the education system.
He said the group does not seek confrontation, and was not at the meeting to make demands.
”Hopefully, we are laying the foundations for ongoing constructive dialogue. We are here to explore ways and means of how all of us can take hands in order to ensure better education for all.”
The Afrikaner delegation included Dave Stewart, executive director of the FW de Klerk Foundation; education experts Clive Roos and Huw Davies; the chairperson of the Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurverenigings (FAK), Danie Goosen; and FAK vice-chairperson Roland Henwood.
Pandor was accompanied by Deputy Minister of Education Enver Surty, Deputy Directors General of Education Cassius Lubisi, Nasima Badsha and Penny Vinjevold, and special adviser Martin Mulcahy. — Sapa