The future of Afrikaans schools should be discussed urgently, the Freedom Front Plus said yesterday.

The future of Afrikaans schools should be discussed urgently, the Freedom Front Plus said yesterday.

The party called for a meeting on the issue with Education Minister Naledi Pandor. FF+ Youth leader Cornelius Jansen van Rensburg said national conciliation demanded that the government pay more attention to multilingualism.

"Until now, the government has merely tried to appease the Afrikaans community with the assurance that the constitution guarantees mother-tongue education and that the government would not infringe on this right. What is now happening is in stark contrast to the promises made.

"After the ANC came to power English- speaking pupils were [deliberately] enrolled in Afrikaans schools. Feasibility was not an issue then. Now the situation has been reversed - schools that were previously Afrikaans have unilaterally become English schools," he said. - Sapa