Promoting social cum racial integration in South Africa by making an African language a National Senior Certificate pass requirement

Abstract

While schooling or formal education has become the main locus of education and training in South Africa, little recognition is given to local African languages in the curriculum. The trend is that the so-called former Model C schools, which use English as Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT), teach English and Afrikaans as subjects and usually give no significant recognition to the mother-tongues of African learners. It is only in township and rural schools, widely considered as dysfunctional, that African languages may be used as LoLT during the first three years and are taught at meaningful levels for native speakers. Thus, the education system maintains, albeit in a subdued manner, the apartheid-era partition of the society and creates a context prone to the continued exclusion of the marginalised. I argue that making African languages compulsory at the school-end exam would help level the playing fields between black learners and their white counterparts. Furthermore, township and rural schools would be recognised as having some currency to trade, which would contribute in turn to improving their own image. Banking on the linguistic capital of black learners in ‘black’ schools could lead to the phasing-in of symmetrical exchanges between learners from both ends of the educational divide, through bussing and school pairing. Such initiatives would not only contribute to bridging the educational gap and fighting social exclusion, but would also go a long way towards promoting reciprocal knowledge and mutual understanding between youth across racial and social barriers, thus paving the way for a more caring and united society.