FYI (ref. to this article from the South African paper, Business Day rec'd via Google alert)... DZO
Vicious circle as students avoid African languages Sue Blaine Business Day Education Correspondent Posted to the web on: 07 July 2005 http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/topstories.aspx?ID=BD4A65396 EDUCATION Minister Naledi Pandor's proposal for the development of black languages as mediums of instruction could fail if more students do not opt to study African languages at university, an academic said yesterday. African language departments at South African universities were closing down because student numbers were dwindling, Prof Dave Mutasa of the University of SA (Unisa) said. He was presenting a paper at the African Language Association of Southern Africa's conference in Johannesburg. Last month Pandor said South African black languages needed to be elevated to the same status as English and Afrikaans. "The time has come to make the learning of an African indigenous language compulsory in all our schools," Pandor said, announcing a new school curriculum for next year. Under the curriculum, the Further Education and Training Certificate will replace the current senior certificate, or matric. Two language subjects are compulsory for the certificate. One of these must be a language of learning and teaching. Mutasa said statistics from his university and the University of Limpopo showed a "drastic decline of up to 90%" in the numbers of students studying black South African languages between 1997 and 2003. In 1997, there were 2006 students enrolled to study at least one of the five indigenous languages offered by the University of Limpopo. This number declined to 15 in 2003. In Unisa's case, student enrolments slipped from 24461 in 1997 to 1743 in 2002. This prompted research into what was happening at school level, Mutasa said. "The language teaching at schools has a direct impact on the language teaching at tertiary institutions," he said. The research revealed 44% of the teachers polled were not aware of the education department's language policy for schools, which allows school governing bodies to determine the medium of instruction. Mutasa said legislation governing language for teaching had to be simplified so that teachers understood it. Alet van Huyssteen, chairwoman of the Western Cape Language Committee, said parents, some of whom served on school governing bodies, needed to be informed of the importance of mother-tongue education. A good grounding in a child's home language was the basis for acquiring English, which was often seen as "the language of the stomach" - the language of economic upliftment. -- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanLanguages/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
