FYI (fwd from News24.com)... DZO
Mother-tongue matric on cards? 21/02/2005 23:06 - (SA) http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/Politics/0,,2-7- 12_1665715,00.html Jan-Jan Joubert, Beeld Cape Town - The national education department will investigate the possibility of increasing the number of languages in which pupils can sit their matric exams. Afrikaans and English are the only two options available for general subjects. But Education Minister Naledi Pandor says the education MECs of various provinces indicated on Monday that there was a growing demand for mother-tongue matric exams. This demand was expressed at Monday's meeting of the council of education ministers, when the need for better education in English as second language also was emphasised. Pandor warned, however, that because the issue was being investigated did not necessarily mean it would be implemented. Issues such as administration, costs and the fact that most pupils were taught in English, in any case, would be weighed up. 'Being done an injustice' "I think it could be quite tricky to implement, but it doesn't mean we should shy away from investigating the possibility," she said. Meanwhile, there's been a growing demand for mother-tongue education and exam papers in various provinces, due to a perception that pupils are being done an injustice by not being able to write their exams in their mother tongue. Pandor also announced that statistics on the results of last year's matric exams would be compiled and schools with a pass rate lower than 50% would receive special attention. "We're aiming for a situation where no school has a pass rate of less than 50%," she said. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanLanguages/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
