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The Northern Gauteng High Court in Pretoria today decided that an application against the implementation of the new language policy of the University of South Africa (Unisa) was not an urgent issue. This decision applies solely to the issue of urgency, and not the merit of Unisa’s language policy itself.

According to Alana Bailey, Deputy CEO of AfriForum, Unisa’s new policy determines that Afrikaans will not be used as medium of instruction at the University from 2017 onwards, and that English will in future be the only medium of instruction.

“Three High Court judges ruled on 21 July 2016 that the University of the Free State had a responsibility to offer multilingual education; that Afrikaans may in no way be abolished as medium of instruction; and that more indigenous languages had to be supported to develop to the level of academic functionality. AfriForum is of the opinion that the same applies to Unisa, only more so, as Unisa serves a student community who often has no other access to tertiary education,” says Bailey.

AfriForum now devotes all its attention to ensuring that the application against the language policy is heard as soon as possible. This will provide prospective students who want to register for 2017 for modules that will be presented in Afrikaans with clarity about their options.  

“Meanwhile, we encourage prospective students to register where possible for Afrikaans education,” Bailey adds.

Issued by AfriForum