With language rights increasingly being violated in South Africa, the celebration of Human Rights Day, according to AfriForum, amounts to mere window dressing. The decision of the Senate of the University of Stellenbosch (US) that new courses will be offered in English only in the first semester of 2021 is a telling example of this disregard for language rights.
According to Alana Bailey, AfriForum’s Head of Cultural Affairs, the university’s blatant denial of Afrikaans students’ language rights is typical of many institutions in the country that pursue a pro-English agenda at the expense of ten of the country’s official languages.
“Despite overwhelming national and international evidence of the academic, psychological and economic benefits of mother-language education, English education is being presented to students as a shortcut to success, with institutions such as the US paying lip service to multilingualism,” says Bailey.
“The tragedy is that when marketing takes place, universities will make an effort to advertise in Afrikaans (for example), thereby creating the illusion that teaching will not be available in English only. In practice, however, lecturers and students experience the opposite and often feel too intimidated to complain about the language rights violations they encounter. They also believe that their complaints will fall on deaf ears. Recent allegations by students that they are not allowed to speak Afrikaans in US residences, and the university authorities’ denial in response to the complaints, reinforce such fears.”
The US has just published a draft language policy for public comment. Bailey mentions that experience at other institutions over the past decade has taught that public consultation processes are of little significance. “In most cases the policy that had previously been circulated or leaked, was accepted, regardless of the input of stakeholders. As a result, Afrikaans as a medium of tertiary education has now almost disappeared from public institutions and the chance that other indigenous languages will be fully developed to this level, is decreasing steadily,” she explains. “Events at the US in recent weeks, especially the decision in favour of English teaching in the first semester of 2021, raise doubts as to whether the consultation process will proceed differently in this case.”
Members of the public are encouraged to support private institutions such as Akademia and Sol-Tech that actively promote mother-language education and to put pressure on public institutions to deviate from the self-destructive path of monolingual English education.
Bailey believes that authorities and educators often lack insight into the importance of language rights and do not realize that it is a human right. “They violate the rights of students and staff with a monolingual English offering and thereby contribute to an increasing academic decline among the population. More needs to be done on Human Rights Day to inform decision-makers about the need to protect and promote language rights, before more students have to pay the price for their ill-considered decisions.”