IsiZulu now taught in former Model C Schools
uThungulu District Education Director, David Chonco talks about policies and procedures.
SOUTH Africa has 11 official languages, and in the eyes of the new education policy, they should be given equal status.
This was the message of uThungulu District Education Director, David Chonco to the Zululand Observer.
He was explaining policies and procedure to be followed when deciding on the introduction of IsiZulu into former Model C Schools within the KZN Provincial Education System.
This after an allegation that a particular school governing body took a unilateral decision when introducing IsiZulu into one the local schools, with the teachers and parents not included in the decision making process.
Chonco declined to comment on the claim, saying that he could only do so when he gets the full details of what exactly transpired.
‘The school governing body, the parents and the teachers must sit together and decide on the matter, as both Afrikaans and IsiZulu are from now on only treated as subjects, and English as the language of instruction,’ Chonco said.
He said the reason why IsiZulu is currently treated as a subject is because there are as yet no books written in the language, while all books are in English, and are used in the job market.
Chonco emphasized the fact the Afrikaans speaking pupils have equal rights with IsiZulu speaking ones, and the two languages are to be given equal status, as this is the country’s education policy.
When asked whether IsiZulu now determines if the pupil fails or passes, Chonco said a pupil fails the grade only if he does the subject (either IsiZulu or Afrikaans) as a first language.
