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South African language policy in education

Topic paragraph

During apartheid South Africa was officially a bilingual state with English and Afrikaans as the official languages of the country. In 1994, after the abolishment of the apartheid, the new government of South Africa declared the country as a multilateral state to give recognition to nine other African languages. This new recognition was, among other things, to promote new languages in the media of learning. Despite the recognition of the African languages the status quo today remains much as it was during the era of apartheid. English and Afrikaans are still the hegemon languages of learning among the South African schools.

Today, South Africa is making the largest investments in education since the end of apartheid. For example, in 2013 the country used 19,7% of its budget for education. This is considered a high percentage in international means. Despite the large investments into the education system there are still struggles within the education of South Africa and the fact that the country has 11 official languages further complicates this matter.

To get a clear picture of the South African language policy in education this article will adress the language policy during and after the apartheid, the past and current education policy, the contemporary language policy and the conflicts of the multilingualism in South Africa.