Basic education minister Angie Motshekga has provided an update on her department’s plans to introduce a number of changes at schools in South Africa, after plans were delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
Answering in a written parliamentary Q&A, Motshekga said that this will include Incremental Introduction of African Languages (IIAL), which will target schools that did not offer a previously marginalised official African language.<\/p>\n
Motshekga said that there a total of 2,584 schools that will follow this programme, but that plans to roll out the new languages to higher grades had been delayed due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n
“The IIAL strategy has been implemented in Grades 1-3, and it was supposed to move to Grade 4 in 2021.<\/p>\n
“However, its implementation has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic; and the department of basic education’s primary focus has been and continues to be on fundamentals, which is the home language and the first additional language levels,” she said.<\/p>\n
“It is worth noting that there are schools that are already implementing the IIAL strategy up to Grade 7, as evidenced through the 2021 annual performance plan monitoring report.”<\/p>\n
Language change\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Motshekga said that her department is also pushing forward on its plans for ‘mother tongue teaching’, with students allowed to both study and write exams in their home languages.<\/p>\n Provinces continue to support and extend the use of mother tongue education, she said.<\/p>\n “The Eastern Cape, for example, initiated mother tongue-based bilingual education, wherein 2,024 schools are using IsiXhosa and Sesotho for learning and teaching beyond the foundation phase.<\/p>\n “Learners in these schools are taught mathematics, natural science and technology in their home languages of IsiXhosa and Sesotho.<\/p>\n “The 2020 Grade 12 learners, for the first time in the history of the NCS, had access to preliminary examination question papers in their home languages of IsiXhosa and Sesotho.”<\/p>\n Other subjects coming\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The department of education has also indicated that it will trial new subjects this year\u00a0 – including entrepreneurship and coding and robotics<\/p>\n Nationally, 540 schools will be monitored for implementing compulsory entrepreneurship education, the department said.<\/p>\n The initiative is being driven by president Cyril Ramaphosa and is expected to officially form part of the curriculum by 2024.<\/p>\n