The Department of Basic Education, working alongside Unicef, has developed a new multi-language concept paper to encourage the use of mother-tongue languages at the country’s schools.<\/p>\n
Answering in a recent parliamentary Q&A, minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga said that her department now intends to introduce African languages as mother tongue incrementally beyond the foundation phase (Grade R – Grade 3).<\/p>\n
Motshekga said that this change follows a successful ‘Mother Tongue Based Bilingual Education pilot’ run by the Eastern Cape Department of Education.<\/p>\n
As part of the pilot, 2,015 schools are using IsiXhosa and Sesotho as the language of learning and teaching (LoLT) beyond the foundation phase.<\/p>\n
Motshekga said that learners in these schools are taught Mathematics, Natural Science and Technology in their home languages IsiXhosa and Sesotho.<\/p>\n
“This initiative was started in 72 Cofimvaba (Eastern Cape) schools in Grade 4 in 2012 and incrementally in subsequent grades \u2013 the cohort is in Grade 12 in 2020.<\/p>\n
“The province is working with other stakeholders such as the Rhodes University, University of Fort Hare, Oxford University Press, Pearson, and PanSALB.”<\/p>\n
Motshekga added that learners in the pilot outperformed those not in the cohort\u00a0in the June examinations on 17 out of 18 questions.<\/p>\n
“The National Curriculum Statement encourages learners to learn through their home language, particularly in lower grades where learners learn the critical foundational skills of reading, writing and numeracy.<\/p>\n
“English and Afrikaans are used as LoLT throughout the system, although just 23% of South Africans identify English and Afrikaans as their Home Languages. African Home Languages are used as LoLT mainly in the foundation phase, and thereafter transit to English.”<\/p>\n
Single-medium schools\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Motshekga said that there are 8,096 single-medium schools in South Africa.\u00a0 The majority of schools are English (6,483) followed by Afrikaans (1,261) and IsiXhosa (163).<\/p>\n The table below details all of the single-medium schools in South Africa:<\/p>\n\n\n
\n Languages<\/th>\n Number of single-medium schools<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n \n English<\/td>\n 6 483<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Afrikaans<\/td>\n 1 261<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n IsiXhosa<\/td>\n 163<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n IsiNdebele<\/td>\n 85<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n IsiZulu<\/td>\n 31<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Sepedi<\/td>\n 22<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n SeSotho<\/td>\n 17<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Other<\/td>\n 7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n SiSwati<\/td>\n 7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Setswane<\/td>\n 7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n South African Sign Language<\/td>\n 6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Tshivenda<\/td>\n 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Xitsonga<\/td>\n 3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Total<\/strong><\/td>\n 8 096<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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