Issued by: SA Communication Service
STATEMENT BY PROF S M E BENGU, MINISTER OF EDUCATION: TOWARDS A NEW LANGUAGE IN EDUCATION POLICY FRAMEWORK
INTRODUCTION
On the advice of the Heads of Education Departments Committee (HEDCOM) and the Council of Education Ministers (CEM), it is my pleasure to announce significant steps forward in the complex and sensitive area of language in education. The following provisions should be read in the light of the commitment of my Department to promote multilingualism in the educational system and to remove all forms of linguistic discrimination.
Developmental initiatives
This process will begin with the release of a discussion document before the end of the month and my Department hopes to complete significant aspects of this planning process from April 1996.
Among the key outputs of this process will be a framework op optional multilingual models for schools, presented in such a way that the elected representatives of school communities will be able to design language models for their schools from a wide range of innovative options. Another key output will be the basis of a new generic curriculum framework for language teaching and learning. This curriculum process will pay particular attention to the development of appropriate syllabi and methodologies for African languages.
A new multilingual policy
A key feature of a new multilingual policy will be that it promotes the use and the development of two or more languages throughout schooling in such a way that no language should be intro- duced at the expense of another. Learners' home languages, as well as the additional languages they wish to acquire, will all form part of a dual process of self-affirmation and cognitive development. This is known as additive or balanced bilingualism and is a radical departure from the restrictive models of the past.
The new language requirements
Languages of learning and instruction
Where it is appropriate and immediately feasible, schools should be strongly encouraged to offer at least two languages of learning and instruction from Grade One, at least one of which should be a home language among significant numbers of learners in the schools.
Languages learnt as subjects
In the primary phase of education a high degree of flexibility is sought. The intention of the Department is to create an appro- priate environment in the primary phase of language development, free of unnecessary pressure and with due attention to learners' home languages.
Appropriate measures will therefore be taken to ensure that at least two languages are studied from as early as Grade One, without unjustifiably holding learners back through stringent promotion requirements, particularly as learners may be acquiring a partially or wholly unfamiliar language.
Language requirements for Senior Certificate and Matriculation
In Grade Eleven and Twelve and for the purposes of the Senior Certificate, the language subject groups have already been amended by listing all official languages together in Group A. This removes the compulsion on learners to study either English or Afrikaans.
I intend to investigate, in consultation with the Committee of University Principals, similar amendments to the requirements for matriculation exemption.
Other special measures
In the spirit of flexibility and the commitment of my Department to remove all unfair discrimination on grounds of language, it is also recommended that the requirement that learners pass in the language of instruction falls from 1 January 1996.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT MR LINCOLN MALI TEL: (012) 3260126 OR 083 251 4044