The University of the Western Cape (UWC) has identified a lack of trained teachers who are proficient in indigenous languages as a huge challenge in mother tongue education at foundation phase.
The Progress in International Reading Literacy 2021 Study, found that seven out of every ten South African learners at Grade 4 level cannot read with comprehension.
The university’s Dean of the Faculty of Education, Professor Rajenjaan Govender says the aim of the newly established Education Centre for African Language Teaching is to address the challenge.
“We want to strengthen isiXhosa and the teaching of it at schools as well as literacy development of our learners. What we want to do is to work with combined stakeholders, the parents, the teachers, the Western Cape Department of Education and the Eastern Cape Education Department – where most of our teachers who teach isiXhosa, learners who speak the language live, we need to look at new ways of engaging pedagogies,” says Govender.
