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Namaqualand in need of English medium schools

One parent, Brenda Matebe speaking on channel.
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MEC for the Northern Cape Department of Education has promised to meet with parents in the Namaqualand area following complaints on the lack of English medium schools in the region.

Parents claimed that their children are forced to enrol at Afrikaans medium schools despite the language not being their mother tongue.

Department spokesperson Geoffery van der Merwe said they are yet to study the feasibility of having an English medium school in the once predominately Afrikaans area.

Van Der Merwe said, “We are busy conducting a feasibility study to determine the need of an English medium school in the Namaqua district. We are fully aware of the demand from parents and the community, this is happening against the backdrop of government’s efforts in changing the social and economic outlook of the district.”

One parent, Brenda Matebe says the lack of English medium schools in the Namaqualand area is affecting her daughter’s grades. She says she has been negotiating with the Department of Education for Afrikaans medium schools to be turned into dual medium schools.

Matebe said, “Since last year I have been interacting with the DOE regarding our demands and then we are struggling to get feedback. I believe that they do not need to build new schools; they can just accommodate our children in the current schools that are there. They can just make them dual schools.”

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