Freedom Front Plus (FF-Plus) chairman Anton Alberts said the Constitutional Court's "lamentable" ruling was a "tremendous setback" for mother-tongue instruction as well as the development of indigenous languages in South Africa.
He was referring to the Constitutional Court throwing out an appeal by lobby group AfriForum and trade union Solidarity on Friday, 29 December, ordering that English be used as the main medium of instruction at the University of the Free State.
"It is a great pity that mother-tongue instruction, as it is enshrined in the Constitution, is considered a stumbling block for racial relations and that the Constitutional Court blames the previous parallel language policy for racial segregation.
"The FF-Plus is of the opinion that the ANC government has had the opportunity to build additional universities and implement measures so as to execute the Constitutional Court's stipulation that everyone has the right to receive education in the official language of his or her choice for the past 23 years now.
"The ruling is also in contradiction with international law that promotes mother-tongue instruction and internal self-determination especially with regard to, amongst other things, language," Alberts continued.
"In a country with 11 official languages, the mediums of instruction must rather be expanded to include more languages instead of languages being taken away and institutions becoming anglicised. Educational experts worldwide agree that mother-tongue instruction promotes academic performance. Social coherence will never be attained if people's language rights are denied and if the integral building blocks that constitute their identity are taken away."
Source: BDpro
