LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

Among the countries where language has complicated educational policy, South Africa is probably unique. The white or "European" minority of the population is not only separated from the African, Coloured and Asiatic, it is divided within itself between Afrikaner and English. This creates unusual problems. Afrikaans is a new language which has developed during the past century, and its use is limited almost exclusively to the Afrikaners (the Boers), while English, of course, is not only an international language but also the principal lingua franca of the rest of the African continent. Consequently, even leaving aside the numerous native dialects which cannot be ignored in determining educational policies, political leaders have been faced with the problem of encouraging the wider use of Afrikaans without eliminating the general use of English.