Indigenous languages progress in Parliament

BASIC Education Minister Angie Motshekga is today expected to brief Parliament on progress made with the introduction of African languages in schools and plans to make history a compulsory subject.

The briefing comes almost a month after Motshekga tabled her budget speech, where she said her department wanted to halve the number of schools that did not teach African languages.

Motshekga said the Western Cape and Mpumalanga were still lagging behind in teaching African languages while the Northern Cape and Free State were leading the provinces in introducing indigenous languages at their schools.

The programme has been piloted in Grades 1 and 2 in 264 schools countrywide, between 2014 and 2015.

It was extended to another 842 schools last year with about 1 779 schools set to be part of this year.

Motshekga’s appearance before the committee will also take place amid raging debate on the “decolonisation” of education.

Reply

Replying to a written parliamentary question, Motshekga said her department had not formulated a definition of the term “decolonisation” nor had it settled on a “working definition” of it as it related to the school curriculum.

Motshekga said “decolonisation” of the curriculum was a process and not an event as the development, review, assessment and strengthening of curricula could not be a onceoff event.

Yesterday, former AU chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma was quoted as supporting calls for the “decolonisation” of education.

Independent Media reported that while addressing about 300 delegates who attended the policy council of Youth In Action in Durban, she said decolonising education was more than just changing content in the curricula.

It was about a new way of thinking and must start with the decolonisation of the mind, she said.

For this to happen, black people first had to overcome their inferiority complex.