With registration for the 2016 school year in progress, education stakeholders and residents have been urged by a member of an ANC Youth League to lobby for the teaching of more African languages in Alex schools to ensure that children don’t have to travel long distances, pay high transport costs, feel safe and do not feel discriminated against.
Local ANC Youth League branch member, Banele Sangcozi, argued that early this year, some children were still struggling to get a place in schools, partly because of the alleged restrictive language policy of the schools. Sangcozi said there was a concern that the same would happen again this coming year and said it should be resolved in anticipation of the 2016 school year.
Sangcozi argued that the teaching of African languages shouldn’t be a problem after 21 years of democracy. “All schools should be made to increase the number of languages they teach in line with society and children need to be more multi-lingual so that, in addition to competency testing, they can also engage better with others on the school grounds,” he said.
“Restricting the multiplicity of languages could have been done in good faith at the beginning when restructuring the past [apartheid] education system, [yet] it [has] now [become] detrimental to children’s growth and knowledge of each other when they can’t communicate in more languages,” said Sangcozi. Sangcozi also said that as a result of restricting schools to teaching in not more than three languages, a lot of children cannot attend schools close to their homes and have to travel to schools further away.
“Most of them can’t afford transport costs which forces them to walk long distances… [putting them at risk of] crime, sexual abuse, especially for vulnerable girls, and when crossing busy roads,” he said. Sangcozi added that the lobbying will also reveal that unlike the Zulu language, which was taught at most schools, others like Tsonga and Venda were worst affected, despite the huge population that speaks these languages.
He stated that the matter was already under discussion with some principals and that the ANC Youth League in Alex and MEC for Community Safety, Sizaleke Nkosi-Malobane, needed a formal platform to continue this discussion. “School governing bodies, the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), the Joburg East District’s Department of Education and the MEC for Education should be involved in these discussions to avoid the concern resulting in people toyi-toying for improved language competency and education rights of the African child,” he concluded.
Details: 076 067 8795.
