The Pan South African Language Board (PANSALB) and the Minister of Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa held a conference today to commemorate International Mother Language Day. Language preservation and the recognition of all official languages came top on the agenda.
Mthethwa says with the fourth industrial revolution looming, technology is now an important weapon.
“Technology has a great potential to address some of the challenges in our education today. It can accelerate efforts in ensuring lifelong equitable education for the inclusion of using mother tongue in our system because multilingual education based on mother tongue, should be a key component of our education system. This goal is a national one.”
Mother tongue is the true vehicle of transmission, which is fundamental to our identities, an inseparable part of our personalities and must never be lost. It should be preserved at any cost as it carries the rich cultural fabric of our existence. [1/6] pic.twitter.com/yGKZGdUEl0
— Nathi Mthethwa (@NathiMthethwaSA) February 21, 2022
Today is an important day for people all over the world to celebrate and honor their different languages and cultures. Every February 21, International Mother Language Day is celebrated and observed to encourage cultural diversity as well as multilingualism worldwide. pic.twitter.com/lLw0dc5bvM
— United Nation World Peace Association (@Unwpa_wpa) February 21, 2022
The Department of Education also emphasised the importance of encouraging the use of indigenous languages in the curriculum. Eastern Cape Education MEC, Fundile Gade, says they have also proposed that provisions be made where matric examinations are set up in mother languages.
“We have been able to get results quite surprisingly in maths and science, on those particular piloted programmes in schools, which defines that our ability of reasoning has got nothing to do with how we have created ourselves to be today.”
