- Language in Education: Learning in the mother tongue0.23 MB
According to a 2010 Department of Basic Education (DBE) report, in 2007 25% of school children in South Africa spoke isiZulu as a home language; 20% used isiXhosa; 10% used Afrikaans and 7% used English. However, in 2007 the majority of the children (65%) in the schooling system learnt through the medium of English as the Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT). The second most common LoLT
was Afrikaans (12%).1
These statistics are hard to fathom if one considers that the Constitution of South Africa makes provision for eleven official languages, and that Section 29(2) of the Bill of Rights states that children have the right to be taught in the language of their choice where it is practical to do so. Furthermore, the 1997 Language in Education Policy (LiEP) is underpinned by a principle of maintaining the use of the home language of the learners as the LoLT in the classroom, especially in the early years of learning, while providing access to additional language (also called additive bilingualism).
Report written by Kenny Pasensie
Researcher at the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO)
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