Letters: Mother tongue education is nonsense

Our country is in turmoil, even though it appears to be all fine and dandy. There are many under-currents of severe damage to the young people of our country.
I refer particularly to the education system that is prevalent in totally government schools. The private and Model C schools are a blessing BUT how many children and parents can afford this. As the years roll by – the prices keep going up, which further disadvantages the average and poor income children.
What is this obsession with mother tongue education? Presently there is a great demand by certain groups to implement this method. This country has 11 languages to contend with plus the Eastern languages. Will it really help our children or will it disadvantage them further? And how will this be implemented – are they planning separate schools with teachers proficient in a particular language? Where are these extra teachers coming from?
The mind boggles at the complexity of these issues – a quagmire of immense proportions. And most important of all – at the end of Grade 12, will the children be grateful to their parents and guardians? I think not! Every year a select group of excellent students are paraded by jubilant government authorities. Check out the race groups and decide if the proportion of excellence is evenly distributed. I will not comment further just in case the question of racism is hurled at me!
Language is part of our individual culture. There are many minority groups in South Africa speaking various languages – southern, northern, eastern European and various African languages and dialects, Chinese, various Indian languages and dialects. Most of these groups maintain their cultural identity – the older generation generally know their language and hand it down to the next generation. Whether this is successful is debatable.
Some cultural groups send their children to after school classes – teachers are usually chosen from their cultural groups. Many children or their parents are not interested about this aspect of schooling. Surely that is their choice. It is not a train smash not to know your mother tongue. Has anyone ever heard of an individual who failed to succeed in his/her profession or employment because they did not know their mother tongue?
As we live in a global village and many South Africans of all races are always venturing forth to various corners of the globe. Surely a sound, basic English education will be a distinct advantage.
We need to move away from narrow-mindedness and expose all our people to a language that will be of most value in their education, and for them to compete equally in this global village.
Am I totally wrong? Just ask a few children of different races and even more important, ask their mothers and get their opinion. I am sure it will be unanimously in favour of an English medium school. I have contact with many African females and they insist on sending their children to an English medium school.
This view had to be expressed for the benefit of all our children – “suffer not our children.” Bless our children!
THIRU MOODLEY (DR.)
Ballito