South Africa has a long way to go in having indigenous languages recognised as a medium of instruction, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor said in Pretoria on Thursday.
”The ministerial committee reported a startling but not surprising finding that the future of African languages as a medium of instruction is bleak if nothing is done immediately,” she told a conference at the University of South Africa.
She was speaking at the Language Policy and Implementation in Higher Education Institution conference.
The ministerial committee was appointed to provide advice for the development and use of African indigenous languages.
She said the Language in Education Policy and the Language Policy for Higher Education were designed to promote multilingualism in education.
”The state must take practical and positive measures to elevate the status and advance the use of the indigenous languages.”
Some institutions, like the University of the KwaZulu-Natal, have already adopted the Language Policy of Higher Institutions and revised their language policy to align with the national policy.
The department came up with a plan of intervention to implement the language policy.
Pandor said the plan will focus on including a national six-year mother tongue education programme aimed at using pupils’ home languages as medium of instruction in the foundation and intermediate phase; a national general and further education second language programme; and launching a vigorous information and advocacy programme aimed at assisting parents and children to make informed language decisions.
She said the department was aware that the interventions are not enough to address the challenge faced.
The conference was attended by language lecturers and practitioners from higher education institutions from South Africa.
”I hope that by the end of this conference you [people at the conference] will be able to make some suggestions as to how we can move faster towards creating and consolidating a multilingual environment at our higher education institutions,” Pandor said. — Sapa