Doubts over successful implementation of mother-tongue school  instruction programme

Education experts have questioned the feasibility of the department of basic education’s plan to implement the mother tongue-based bilingual education programme this year. It aims to enhance literacy by extending the use of African languages as a medium of instruction beyond grade three.

The programme, piloted at the start of the 2025 academic year, will mainly target home-language schools — where the primary language of instruction is the language spoken at home — across all nine provinces. 

The school has to indicate to the department of basic education that it has changed the language of learning and teaching in grade four to one of the nine official African languages in the country. 

The initial phase of the programme will focus on maths, science and technology (MST) in grade four. From next year, the department will add an additional grade all the way through to grade seven.

Experts say although the programme is a positive step towards expanding educational accessibility, foundational issues need to be addressed for the initiative to succeed, particularly around language development and teaching capacity.

“One of my main concerns is the readiness of African languages to handle the complexities of technical subjects like the MST subjects,” said Judicial Sebatana, a lecturer at the North West University’s faculty of education. 

“At the [university], we struggle to find candidates qualified to teach or study in Setswana and Sesotho at advanced levels. This shortage is particularly acute for technical subjects.

“Many African language teachers are not trained in technical subjects and technical subject teachers may lack proficiency in African languages. In some cases, these teachers might not even be from South Africa, which can complicate language integration further.”

​The mother tongue-based bilingual education programme and the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act aim to enhance educational outcomes and promote inclusivity but operate independently. The Bela Act focuses on amending education laws to address various aspects of the schooling system, including language and admission policies. 

While the Bela Act is a step forward, language policies alone will not resolve South Africa’s broader education challenges, said Xolisa Guzula, a language and early biliteracy expert at the University of Cape Town’s school of education.

“There are many other factors that must be addressed simultaneously, including teacher training, effective pedagogies, content knowledge and the provision of conducive learning environments,” she said.

Guzula recommended that universities align their teacher training programmes with the languages used for instruction. At present, English and Afrikaans teachers are trained in their respective languages, while those teaching literacy in African languages are typically trained in English. 

A few foundation phase bachelor of education programmes — offered by institutions such as the University of Fort Hare, Nelson Mandela University, the University of the Western Cape and the University of Johannesburg — have started training educators in isiXhosa.

“This discrepancy must be corrected, not only in the foundation phase, but for the rest of schooling if we want to create truly multilingual education systems,” Guzula said.

The basic education department has refuted claims that the programme has been challenging to implement, insisting that it has “not been difficult”.

“It is going well. Remember it has only been 52 school days in 2025. When the first term is done, we will update our trends halfway through the year. For now, we are satisfied,” said the department’s spokesperson, Elijah Mhlanga. 

The initiative followed the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy study, an assessment of reading comprehension and literacy which found that 81% of grade four pupils could not read for meaning by the time they turned 10 years old. A total of 12 426 grade four learners in 321 schools, and 9 317 grade six learners in 253 schools, were assessed.

The grade four learners who participated represented all the country’s official languages and nine provinces, while grade six pupils only represented Afrikaans and English. The study, which reviews literacy trends every five years, with the next due to be published in 2026, found that 81% of grade four and 56% of grade six learners did not reach the benchmark of 400 points required to measure reading achievement. 

Grade six learners scored 384 points, with Afrikaans-speaking learners averaging 456. The best-performing language was Afrikaans (387) and the lowest score was observed in Setswana (211).

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has supported  mother tongue education, which it says is important for academic success. But it opposed the Bela Act, arguing that parts of the new law infringe on schools’ autonomy to set language policies and could undermine mother tongue instruction. 

Research by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) shows that education in the child’s mother tongue is a key factor for inclusion and quality learning and improves learning outcomes and academic performance. 

“This is crucial, especially in primary school, to avoid knowledge gaps and increase the speed of learning and comprehension,” Unesco said.

South Africa’s leading literacy publisher, Oxford University Press Southern Africa, said it had been working to publish books in South Africa’s 12 official written languages “to preserve the mother tongue”.

“Encouraging children to read books in their mother tongue can help them address literacy challenges by providing them with a strong foundation in their home language, which can support their overall literacy development and cognitive growth,” said Oxford University Press education manager for Southern Africa Lucia Ndabula.

“Skills acquired in the mother tongue can transfer to learning a second language. For

example, understanding grammar, sentence structure and vocabulary in the mother tongue can help children grasp similar concepts in English.”

According to Unesco data, 40% of the world’s population does not have access to an education in a language they speak or understand.