The government should consider teaching subjects in indigenous languages or strengthening the learning of English if it wants to improve results in basic education‚ University of the Witwatersrand education expert Prof Mary Metcalfe has said.Metcalfe spoke to TimesLIVE after delivering the annual JB Marks Memorial Lecture at the University of Johannesburg on Tuesday night. The memorial lecture was hosted by the JB Marks Education Trust Fund and the National Union of Mineworkers.During her interactive session with students‚ unionists and academics‚ she laid bare the serious challenges the South African education system is facing. One of the problems is that children were not taught in their mother tongue‚ which affected their ability to understand concepts.Using a vast trove of data‚ Metcalfe showed the gathering how‚ from Grade 3 to 4‚ pupils from provinces with large rural communities began to drop in performance because at that level subjects are taught in English.She said the gov...
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