Department dishonest and uninformed about Grootfontein language policy

The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is dishonest and uninformed regarding the proposed language policy for the Grootfontein Agricultural College in Middelburg, Eastern Cape. 

In the proposed policy the Department states that most of the students don’t speak a general home language and that all education must therefore be offered solely in English. However, the AfriForum Youth branch in Grootfontein launched a petition amongst students earlier this year where 63% requested education in Afrikaans.

“It’s clear from the proposed policy that the Department is oblivious to needs of students and not concerned with acting in their best interests. It’s also possible that the Department is blatantly ignoring students’ needs in the name of transformation,” said Eduan Dupper, Spokesperson for AfriForum Youth. 

The proposed policy contradicted itself by admitting that it is important for students to communicate in a language of their choice in order to understand complex topics and at the same time saying that education will only be offered in English.

“Most students’ rights to receive education in their mother tongue are violated in order to adhere to a few radicals’ requests that Afrikaans must vanish from the college.” 

“In this case Afrikaans is the victim of so called ‘transformation’ due to the fact that staff who are only fluent in English are appointed to comply with the Department’s racial targets,” Dupper concluded.

Read the proposed Language Policy here: DRAFT GADI LANGUAGE POLICY