Question NW419 to the Minister of Basic Education
08 March 2024 - NW419
Van Zyl, Ms A M to ask the Minister of Basic Education
What are the details of (a) the measures her department has taken to improve the lack of language development in mother tongue education in the schools and (b) her plans to promote and enhance mother-tongue instruction in the education system of the Republic?
Reply:
a) The Department of Basic Education developed the Framework for the teaching and learning of languages (2013) as a means to strengthen all languages so that they can be used as media of instruction particularly for foundational learning. The DBE successfully piloted Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education (MTBBE) in the Eastern Cape (EC) since 2012, where African languages (IsiXhosa and Sesotho) were used as languages of teaching, learning and assessment (LoLTA) of Mathematics and Natural Science and Technology from Grades 4 in targeted Quintiles 1 – 3 schools. The Department is now able to rollout MTBBE in the whole country, as a key finding of the National Rapid Assessment (2023) that the EC model is a reliable prototype.
b) On the 21 February 2024, on International Mother Language Day (IMLD), the Minister of Basic Education announced that in 2025, there will be a rollout in all provinces of the MTBBE strategy for Mathematics and Natural Science and Technology incrementally from Grade 4 in 2025, focusing on the nine previously marginalised official African languages (IsiZulu, IsiXhosa, IsiNdebele, Siswati, Sesotho, Setswana, Sepedi, Tshivenda and Xitsonga), to be used as languages of learning, teaching and assessment beyond Grade 3. This is the space enjoyed currently by English and Afrikaans. The rollout of the MTBBE is to ensure that the previously marginalised official African Languages enjoy the parity of esteem of all South African languages as enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. The MTBBE plan is being shared and presented to all the relevant stakeholders, it will be shared with Cabinet as well.