Adapt or die
2004-02-06 10:22
Pretoria - Black pupils cannot all attend former Model C schools.
The education departments are well of this and it is not what they try to accomplish by asking schools to take in extra pupils, Tim Makofane, senior district manager of the Gauteng department, said on Thursday.
Where former Model C schools, most of them Afrikaans medium, are asked to reconsider their language policy, it is because these schools have room and empty classrooms for pupils who want to be taught in English, he said.
Makofane said some schools believe the department is attacking Afrikaans as language of instruction. He has been having problems with FH Odendaal and Silverton high schools that want to remain Afrikaans.
"I understand their point of view and know what their fears and constitutional rights are. I know I cannot force them to become a parallel medium.
But these schools lose more and more pupils every year. And the communities in the areas where they are located are changing and there are more pupils who want to be taught in English. These pupils also have rights.
"I have told these schools that if they can be filled to capacity with Afrikaans speaking pupils, I have no problem."
Makofane said there are former Afrikaans schools that will die a "natural death" if they do not change their language policy.
Commenting on black schools running empty in townships, Makofane said it was a problem that would not be solved overnight. He said teaching at these schools has improved over the past few years.
"Many of these schools deliver quality teaching, but the dilemma is that the children's parents do not believe this. They still see these schools as war zones where children throw stones."