The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities recommends Setlokoa, Sepulana and Isimpondo among the dialects to be granted an official language status.
The CRL Rights Commission Chairperson David Mosoma said the education department should be the first to recognise the said dialects at a media briefing in Joburg on Tuesday.
“Pansalb, in collaboration with the Department of Justice, should work for the standardisation and development of all official languages into a legal language. The department of Higher Education and Training is encouraged to subsidise institutions of higher learning that are elevating, prioritising and promoting official languages to become languages of record, teaching, research, technology and commerce.
“The spoken regional languages such as Setlokoa, Sepulana, Isihlubi, IsiBhaca etc, should be promoted, protected and eventually be granted official status in the region in which they are spoken,” he said.
Mosoma said the Department of Basic Education should start identifying a pool of future teachers and prepare them to teach children math, science and technology in their mother tongues, in response to the 4IR.
Mosoma also called on the government to start an education campaign through the GCIS about the languages and the communities’ rights to have their official languages promoted and used by State organs.
“Every sphere of government and private sector should ensure that all publications, for example application forms and information brochures, etc, are written in all official languages of each province and region,” he said.
According to Mosoma 16 organs of state were randomly picked and invited to share with the Commission what they are doing regarding the promotion and equitable use of all official languages.
“The Education Department had just done a pilot study in the Eastern Cape, where they used IsiXhosa and SeSotho as the language of teaching and learning beyond the Foundation Phase.
“They reported that the pilot study was so successful that learners in those schools are now taught mathematics, natural science, and IT in isiXhosa and Sesotho. This initiative was started with the Grade 4s in 2012 and shall be introduced to other grades.”
