Mixed reactions to Education Department's mother tongue based bilingual program

• The Department of Basic Education’s plan to roll out mother tongue-based bilingual education in grade 4 has received mixed reviews
• Minister Angie Motshekga said mother tongue teaching and learning led to positive outcomes, and the results of English and Afrikaans pupils proved this.
• The Basic Education Minister said her department was ready to implement the strategy in the following academic year

Zingisa Chirwa is an experienced Briefly News journalist based in Johannesburg, South Africa, who has covered current affairs on the radio for over 15 years.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said her department was ready to implement the mother tongue based bilingual education plan in 2024. Images: Luba Lesolle/Gallo Images and Stock Image Source: Getty Images

The Education Department's plan to implement mother tongue-based bilingual education in grade 4 has received mixed reviews.

Education Department's mother tongue learning plan

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said her department was ready to roll out its plan in 2025.

Motshekga told education stakeholders about the benefits of children learning in their mother tongue in Bloemfontein, Free State, on 21 May 2024.

The minister said the mother-tongue teaching and learning led to positive outcomes and added that the results of English and Afrikaans pupils, especially in mathematics and science, proved this. According to Sunday World, Motshekga said that the current policy of having children learn their mother tongue until Grade 3 and then switch to English was not working.

Netizens' mixed reviews over Education Department's plan

Social media users met the Basic Education Department's plan with different views. Some users believed it was a good idea, while others felt it would fail.

@darkwadadirira pointed out:

“The problem will come when they have to switch to English at grade 5. If it's a good thing, just make all grades do it.”

@SdomaneVanWyk added:

“Anyone who thinks this is not good has never travelled outside RSA.”

@SmartSosh asked:

“Why would they learn in their mother tongue when the whole world is conversing in English?”

@matizozo questioned:

“So if we have Sotho and Zulu and Ndebele kids in one class? ♂️ They did not think this through ”

@Gamuroger applauded:

“Good move. Some nations have always done that, such as the Chinese, Japanese, Germans, French, etc., with good results.”

Cape Town students butcher Afrikaans in funny TikTok

Briefly News reported that a Western Cape educator shared a hilarious video where his Afrikaans learners grated the language in class.

The man asked them to communicate in Afrikaans, and they did so with disastrous results.

The side-splitting lesson had South Africans remembering how learning Afrikaans was for them in high school.