Language Rights And Schools

This material was published by the Education Rights Project (ERP) as a tool during it's awreness information campaign to schools. This material talks about the importance of language rights and how they should be protected and promoted in a democratic education system, where equal opportunities must be given to all citizens. In the international discussions about human rights every child has the right to Mother tongue education.

This material states that for many communities, language is very important for their identity, history and culture. If the mother tongue is not used in schools, a community’s identity, history and culture may be lost or will become invisible. This loss or denial of the language often has negative effects on a student. For example if students believe that the school does not value their language then this is understood by the students to mean that their own communities have low status and value. This negatively affects the confidence and self-esteem of the students. A strong sense of self-worth is essential for successful education, so if the student develops low self-esteem, then she is unlikely to succeed at school.

Like most African countries South Africa has many indigenous languages, though English and Afrikaans speakers are in the minority these languages are used for high status functions in the government, education and economy. Language rights are protected by the African Constitution, however language rights violation continue to take place in schools but the South African Constitution and laws can be used to stop violations and protect language rights and education.

Topics include:

• why are language rights important?
• how does good bilingual teaching and learning benefit learners<\LI>
• examples of neglect or violation of language rights in education
• what to do if you think your language rights are being neglected or violated
• what do the constitution and other laws say about language rights and education?
• ways of promoting and protecting all languages in schools
• useful contact details for more information about language rights

“Learning that takes place in a familiar language is much easier than language that is unfamiliar, this will help prevent language disadvantages for those who cannot use their own or a familiar language for education. Culture is very important in many communities and it is believed that if students are not allowed to speak their own languages at school this may have a negative effect on a student as this may negatively affect the confidence and self esteem of the student.

Language rights are taken for granted, English is a language that has very high international status and public use this therefore violates other peoples languages which have low status in society. However some people do not realize that their language is being violated and therefore do not insist that their rights be observed.”

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