Medición de la Agudeza Visual

Haynes (2001: 149) mentions three stages of democracy in South Africa: (i) collapse of apartheid rule, (ii) democratic transition, and (iii) democratic consolidation. The first two

stages aimed at fighting apartheid rule by engaging in negotiations and reforms directed at achieving democracy. They involved negotiations and decisions that demanded cooperation between the white ruling class of apartheid, the National Party (NP), and the major black ruling party, the ANC to effect changes in the new governemt (Haynes, 2001:150). The third stage (democratic consolidation) is marked by the first black rule of the ANC which commenced in 1994, and which came with new changes that had to be effected by the government for democratic progress.

The new government led by the African National Congress (ANC) set out to redress the imbalances of the apartheid system in South Africa. Given the fact that the previous governments (colonial and apartheid) enforced inferior and unequal education for blacks, the new education policy committed itself to achieving “Lifelong Learning” or “Education for All” (Chisholm & Motala, 199:45). The notion of “Education for All” claims that education is the basic human right of every child and it is necessary for self- reliance. The ANC established the Policy Framework for Education and Training, as well as the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) which considered 10 years of quality basic education for all South African children (Chisholm & Motala, 2001:45).

When one reflects on the apartheid language policy that encouraged racial and linguistic inequality between blacks and whites, the new language policy is a very progressive one. It appreciates and accommodates cultural and linguistic diversity and attempts to address all the disadvantages that were suffered by those who were not in power during the apartheid regime (e.g. the exclusion of minority groups from economic participation, linguistic inequality, unequal opportunities of access to education, etc).

South Africa has to be applauded for some achievements in the first decade of democracy. As mentioned in the first chapter, there has been transformation in education with the introduction of the new curriculum (Curriculum 2005 and Outcomes-Based Education) that sees children as active learners who should be empowered with knowledge, skills and values in order to participate meaningfully in their out of school

lives. It is worth mentioning that there are also efforts made to develop the previously disadvantaged languages in the media and other sectors of life (health, justice, etc.) through the establishment of the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) and the Provincial Language committees. These language committees are trying to redress the imbalances of the past (e.g. promoting additive bilingualism) despite certain language attitudes associated with the history of our country.

However, there is no clear guidance and follow-up by the government regarding the implementation of multilingualism in schools and public places, hence English is still the dominant language in formal domains such as school and business. Despite the advocated multilingual and multicultural policy in South Africa, African languages are still marginalized in education because they are not used for learning and teaching after Grade 3. Regarding the choice of media of instruction in schools, the government leaves that role to the School Governing Bodies:

… in determining the language policy of the school, the governing body must stipulate how the school will promote multilingualism through using more than one language of learning and teaching, and/or by offering additional languages as fully-fledged subjects, and/or applying special immersion or language maintenance programmes. (National Department of Education, 1997:8)

Although this clause shows consideration in terms of democracy and parental involvement (school governing bodies), the actual outcomes that the government envisages may be affected by a number of factors. Firstly, for the few elite black parents, decisions with regard to the medium of instruction in African languages do not concern them because they send their children to English medium schools as discussed in the above section. But for the ordinary working class black parents, whose children are adversely affected by the use of English as a medium of instruction, choosing an African language as a language of learning and teaching may also be difficult.

Although it is not explicitly stated in the policy that after Grade 3 learners should be taught in English, it is taken for granted that African learners should switch to English medium of instruction. It is logical that in a country whose history points to the survival of English or Afrikaans speakers in terms of socio-economic advancement, everyone would like to be proficient in the language(s) of economy. Thus many parents or School Governing Bodies choose English as a medium of instruction for their children. Unfortunately, the hegemony of English affects the previously disadvantaged groups only (i.e. the blacks), who are in the majority in terms of population numbers in South Africa. Thus Makalela (2005:155) cautions: “it would be inappropriate to link the preference for English both in the post-1976 Soweto Uprising and the post-apartheid era as a genuine sign of any dislike for learning through African languages.”

Indirectly, the current language-in education policy of this country strengthens the existing power relationships by not encouraging other groups (Whites, Coloureds and Indians) to learn African languages. As suggested by Granville et al. (1998:264) all South Africans (non-mother tongue speakers of African languages) should leave school with at least an adequate bilingual competence in at least one African language, and either English or Afrikaans for African learners. This would be a fair practice for all learners, black and white, and the status of African languages could improve. Currently, the native speakers of English and Afrikaans are still placed at an advantage educationally by the present policy. Regarding the implementation of additive multilingualism as suggested by the new language policy, the government has followed a laissez-faire approach in this regard (Webb, 2004; Heugh, 2003). That is, it has failed to put the multilingual policy into practice. The government could advertise that jobs in the state section will only be open to people, who, in addition to English or Afrikaans, also command one of the African languages.

There is a general belief that English opens all doors of life. People who believe in this myth forget that there are successful individuals in the world who do not utter a word of English. There are also people proficient in English who are failures in life. For example, all countries in Europe use their own languages in education. It is surprising

that these people speak better English compared to many black South Africans who are taught in English for more than eight years of their education. Also, they are very advanced in Science and technology. So, it can be argued that English is not the only determiner of ones success or advancement in life. Science and technology can be acquired through ones mother tongue and not only through English as is the case with developed countries like Japan and others (Mazrui, 1990).

Concerning the teaching and learning of all languages for religious and communication purposes, much still needs to be done to achieve this goal. At present, deaf and blind people are still marginalized, especially in education and in the media. Although there are moves to redress this situation through the introduction of inclusive education, the teachers and other service providers should be trained in order to be proficient in the South African Sign language (SASL).

Economically, democracy has led to a wide gap between the majority of poor South Africans, and the minority of black elites and whites. For example, by the end of the 1990s, the richest 20% of blacks accounted for about two-thirds of the total income brought in by black workers (Haynes, 2001:148). The justification by the government for this disparity is that South Africa should compete globally in terms of attracting foreign investors for economic benefits. As argued above, there are many countries who participate very well in the global world with their languages as media of instruction. In these countries English is taught successfully as a subject without losing the mother tongue (e.g. Norway, France, Sweden, Japan, and many others). So the fact that African countries use foreign languages in education for purposes of globalization is not convincing. A lesson can be learnt from the developed countries.

From the above discussion, it may be deduced that whilst language is a good means of communication, it can also promote social and economic inequality. The current Language-in-Education Policy of South Africa aims at redressing the linguistic imbalances of the past, but the reality is that it is still to the advantage of the non-mother tongue speakers of African languages (Afrikaans and English speakers). English and Afrikaans are well-developed and have been the main official languages of South Africa

in the past. Presently, they are still regarded with prestige in official domains like education, especially English. So, the shift of medium of instruction from the fourth year of schooling does not affect English and Afrikaans children as their languages are used as languages of learning and teaching from the first year of their schooling up to and through tertiary education. As a result, many speakers of these languages do not see a need to learn African languages because their languages can offer them socio-economic benefits that African languages do not carry. The African children, on the other hand, are indirectly forced to learn through the medium of English from Grade 4 and throughout their tertiary education. Thus Maake (1994) comments:

Whites of all political and ideological persuasions have been so comfortable with the privileges that apartheid offered them in the form of cheap labour that they found no need to learn African languages… they were in a situation which never demanded that they associate with the African working class as equals at any time.

For African languages to develop like English and Afrikaans, efforts should be made to encourage and extend their use as languages of learning and teaching (Desai, 2001). The different linguistic and cultural groups of South Africa should be encouraged to learn each other’s languages in order to achieve multilingualism. The implementation of multilingualism should be seriously considered along the lines of linguistic equality and national unity. Additive multilingualism is possible if the learners’ home languages are used in education, or are not replaced by foreign languages. The following discussion focuses on the importance of mother tongue education.