Stellies drops Arikaans as primary language

So instead of jettisoning Afrikaans as the primary language of instruction, ways should be found to ensure that both the principles of inclusivity and language rights were upheld.

In Thursday’s announcement, the university also called for English to be used in residences and other living environments, and as a common language in house meetings and other official functions.

From 2016, English will be the primary language at Stellenbosch University.

The council, which has oversight responsibilities over academic and operational issues, has indicated that it supports the new language policy. At the same time, by means of its Language Policy and Language Plan, the university says it will be creating spaces within which English, Afrikaans, isiXhosa and other languages can flourish.

According to the census of 2011, Afrikaans is the mother tongue of 49,6% of residents in the Western Cape, against 24,7% isiXhosa mother tongue speakers and only 20,2% English mother tongue speakers.

It said it acknowledged the contribution of the Open Stellenbosch group in recent discussions “to ensure that language implementation does not form a barrier in the way of access to learning opportunities at Stellenbosch University or the successful completion of academic programmes”.

Afrikaans is one of South Africa’s 11 official languages – spoken by 13.5% of the population – and was developed from the descendants of Dutch, German and French settlers who arrived in the 17th Century.

But the statement from the rector’s management team said English should be the main language of instruction.

The protests were led by student activists among the “Born Frees” – those born after 1994, with no direct experience of white-minority rule. “The statement makes it clear the USA management can not even be trusted to maintain the partial presentation, but wants to make an effort to further marginalise Afrikaans and discriminating even more drastically against Afrikaans speaking students”.

Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande demanded answers from the university council after seeing the documentary.

They wanted the policy scrapped, saying it excluded minority students from receiving an education.