READER LETTER | Language debate needs reasoning

In the Sowetan of August 11, Prof Loyiso Jita is reported as having said, “it was a progressive step for primary school learning to continue in the home language beyond Grade 3". 

I presume by this he means it must continue till matric. On passing, many matriculants would want to go to tertiary institutions, where tuition is offered in English. The books that are used by the lecturers are in English. The lecturers do not write on a black board when teaching. They only write down chapters to be read in the  prescribed books. Without the understanding of that level of English, black students would struggle to make sense of what they are reading. The English in the academic books is difficult. Even some white students struggle with it. 

My experience as a university lecturer is that black students who did matric at the former white Model C schools perform better than those who did matric at black schools.

This system [of using a pupil's mother tongue as a language of instruction until matric] would be difficult to implement, especially in a province like Gauteng, where pupils are from all the country's African ethnic groups.

I think we should be careful that we don't throw the baby out with the bath water. The architects of apartheid may also argue that this is what they had intended to implement – separating the black groups on the basis of language. 

Dr Phil Mtimkulu
Diepkloof, Soweto