UP language policy: Money plays no role

28 June 2016 

According to a report compiled by the independent transformation panel of the University of Pretoria (UP), the argument does not hold that finances played a role in the UP Council’s decision that English will be the only language of instruction at this University from 2017.

 “Many arguments have been raised about the Council’s decision, of which one focused on finances. The UP’s Council held the argument that a single language policy would be more cost-effective. Here we have indisputable proof that the University would not have had to incur additional expenses to retain Afrikaans as language of instruction,” says Henrico Barnard, Spokesperson for AfriForum Youth’s Tuks branch.

According to Jaco Grobbelaar, Coordinator of AfriForum Youth Tuks, the University did not undertake a survey of the language needs of UP students. “There was only one pro-Afrikaans representative who served in the UP’s language work group, which resulted in the complete ignoring of the voices of the Afrikaans student community,” Grobbelaar concludes.

Issued by Henrico Barnard, Tuks Spokesperson, AfriForum Youth, 28 June 2016