A task team has been established to bring life to an agreement to introduce Mandarin as a recognised subject in South African schools.
This comes after the governments of South Africa and the People’s Republic of China signed a Cooperation Agreement in the field of Basic Education in March 2013. This was the first bilateral agreement entered into by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) since the Department of Education was split in 2009.
This move is also given the impetus by the Minister’s visit to China in February this year where she oversaw the signing of the implementation plan and made the commitment to introduce Mandarin as an additional language in South Africa.
The agreement is based on seven key principles: exchanges of education delegations; exchanges of educational information; exchanges of academics, experts and students; participation by educational representatives; collaboration by Unesco commissions; studying of cultures and Chinese language teaching at South African schools.
Following a conference on the Teaching of Mandarin and Cultural exchange, held at Sol Plaatjie House on Friday 6 June, 2014, it was agreed that a task team would be established to iron out the details of implementing the teaching of Mandarin in South African schools.
The task team will be comprised of amongst others officials from the DBE, the Chinese Embassy in South Africa, SA-Chinese cultural institutions and schools which offer Mandarin training as an addition to the approved curriculum.
“From the deliberations here today, it is clear that much work in teaching Mandarin and cultural exchange is already taking place; therefore this committee will draw largely from past, current experiences and the existing expertise as they put together the proposals for formalising teaching Mandarin as an elective subject in our schools ” said Hleki Mabunda, Director for International Relations and Multilateral Affairs at the DBE.
The task team will be mandated to design a curriculum and determine whether the introduction of Mandarin will be done at First Additional Language or Second Additional Language level or both.
The representative of the Chinese Embassy in South Africa, the Deputy Ambassador hailed the discussions as efficient, pragmatic and fruitful.
“As the Chinese government we want to build on our relationship with your Ministry and foster common goals in education,” said Mr Yang Yirui, Minister Counsellor from the Chinese Embassy in South Africa.
