A joint meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education and the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training has welcomed the plan by the Department of Basic Education to incrementally implement the use of African languages in all South African schools.
The Committees received a presentation on the implementation from both the Department of Basic Education as well as a presentation on teacher development from the Department of Higher Education and Training. According to the Department of Basic Education, the programme will be implemented as from 2014 for Grade R and Grade 1.
This will incrementally increase to include Grade 12 by 2025. The language selection for First Additional Language (FAL) would be Xitsonga, any Nguni language, a Sotho language, Tshivenda or Afrikaans.
Basic Education Committee Chairperson, Ms Hope Malgas, expressed appreciation that the “long overdue” step had been finally taken. She emphasised the need for the programme to get the attention it deserved. The Committee, however, expressed some reservations about whether Afrikaans would not just dominate the choice as FAL. It also expressed concerns about the department’s readiness to implement the programme by next year.
Ms Malgas indicated that the Committee would monitor the department’s progress on the plan, and that the department would have to come back later in the year to give an update on its readiness. The meeting also received a presentation on teacher development in South Africa from both departments.
The Committee took note of the fact that in five (out of nine) provinces the “teacher supply-demand gap” was substantially higher. The Committee further noted the plan to increase the production of teachers to about 20 000 annually by 2019 as well as the plan for producing quality teachers.
The Higher Education and Training Committee Chairperson, Adv Ishmael Malale, expressed appreciation that all this would be done to improve the state of education in the country and to elevate indigenous languages in South Africa.
Issued by the Parliamentary Communication Services on behalf of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education and the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training
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