Minister Pandor supports mother-tongue education
15 February 2007
Minister of Education Mrs Naledi Pandor said today that she strongly supported
the use of Afrikaans and other indigenous languages as media of instruction in
schools.
The Minister was reacting to a Democratic Alliance (DA) press release (14
February) in which she was accused of leading "an ideological crusade against
Afrikaans" and a Freedom Front (FF) press release (14 February) that claimed it
was "now quite clear that the government wants to take control of every single
school in South Africa".
Yesterday, a full bench of the Pretoria High Court ordered the admission of 113
grade 8 learners, who want to be taught in English, to Ermelo High School,
turning a formerly Afrikaans-medium school into a parallel-medium school.
In response to the FF, the Minister said:
"The FF clearly does not care for all children; they want 113 children to be
denied access to school. The government has an obligation to provide school
places for learners. Ermelo High is half full. Language cannot be used to deny
children access to education.
"The truth of the matter is that there has been a trend over the past five
years for more and more Afrikaners to choose to educate their children in
English."
In response to the DA, the Minister said:
"If it is ideological to provide access to schools for schoolchildren, then I
am happy to be called an ideologue. I have always supported the use of
mother-tongue education in our schools, especially in the foundation phase. I
have always supported the promotion of indigenous languages in our
schools."
"The truth is that this is not a language issue: it is purely an issue of
access to education. Over 100 learners were being denied entry to a school that
is clearly under enrolled. Where a school is not fully enrolled, we must allow
places to be taken up by children who want to be educated in whatever medium
they prefer.
"If there is a crusade that I have mounted in our schools," she added, "it is a
crusade for inclusion rather than exclusion."
Editor's notes
1. In late January 2007 Mpumalanga Education MEC Masango relieved the school
governing body at Ermelo High School of its power to determine its language
policy (s 22 of SASA), and appointed a committee to exercise this function. The
committee decided the school had to admit English-speaking pupils and educate
them in their language of choice.
2. On 2 February the school was granted an interim interdict that suspended the
new language policy, pending an application to review the Mpumulanga
department's decision to relieve the school governing body of it power to
determine language policy.
3. On 12 February the Minister of Education launched an urgent application not
only to rescind the interim interdict, but also to be joined as a party in the
review application. She argued that a provincial Education Department has the
right to withdraw the functions of a school's governing body if that school
unreasonably refused to admit pupils requesting instruction in the language of
their choice. This was the route suggested by the SCA in its judgment in the
Mikro case in 2005. A full bench consisting of Transvaal Judge President
Bernard Ngoepe and Judges Willie Serriti and Natvarial Ranchod reserved
judgment.
4. On 13 February the full bench reversed the interim interdict and ordered the
admission to Ermelo High School of 113 learners who wished to be instructed in
English.
5. In June 2005, the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld a Cape High Court ruling
against the Western Cape Education MEC in the Mikro case. The Supreme Court
held that neither the head of the department, nor the MEC, had the right to
impose another language policy on Mikro primary school. However, the judge
indicated that if the language policy adopted by a public school was
unreasonable, the department should withdraw the function of setting language
policy from the governing body under a procedure available in the SA Schools
Act. This was the procedure followed by the Mpumulanga MEC for Education.
6. In the Seodin case the Kimberley High Court upheld the Northern Cape
education department's decision to order that three of the province's high
schools turn dual medium to relieve overcrowding in the one English-medium
school in the area.
7. Section 29(2) of the Constitution does not recognise single-medium schools
as a right, but as an educational alternative that, together with other
alternatives, including dual medium and parallel medium, should be explored in
giving effect to the right to education in a language of choice, taking into
account equity, practicability and the need to redress the injustices of the
past.
8. The Department of Education held a language colloquium in June 2006 and a
modified language policy is currently under development.
Enquiries: Lunga Ngqengelele
Ministerial Media Liaison Officer
Tel: (021) 464 3550
Cell: 082 566 0446
E-mail: ngqengelele.l@doe.gov.za
Issued by: Ministry of Education
15 February 2007
