The DBE, through its Transformation Programme Branch, has put together a Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education (MTbBE) programme to transform the landscape of education from the General Education and Training (GET) to the Further Education and Training (FET) bands. The MTbBE programme will, in 2025, extend mother tongue instruction beyond Grade 3 into Grade 4.
Grade 4 Mathematics and Natural Science and Technology will be taught and assessed in all official languages. Detailed preparation for this roll-out that the DBE had to put in place included concept development; advocacy; translation of Grade 4 Mathematics and Natural Science and Technology subjects; and versioning with the technical assistance of termonographers and lexicographers from the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC). The process is currently at an advanced stage, with the verification and authentication of terminologies for Grade 4 Mathematics and Natural Science. This process was preceded by the translation and versioning of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPs) for the effective implementation of the MTbBE pedagogy in Grade 4 classes in the 2025 school calendar and beyond.
During this week, a team of education experts from the DBE and PanSALB met at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre in Benoni to accelerate the processes associated with the MTbBE roll-out as scheduled. According to the DBE’s Chief Education Specialist, Dr Sello Galane, the verification and authentication processes will provide nationally benchmarked terminologies for Mathematics and Natural Science in all official African Languages: “In the past, we were translating and versioning from English to Afrikaans and official African Languages in the Foundation Phase only. We never had content subjects translated from English to official African Languages beyond Grade 3. In a close reading of the law, we discovered that the process needed to go through the standardisation of terminologies by the DSAC’s Technology and Lexicography Unit”.
He added that, “constitutionally, this process is required for the any subject that was translated for verification and authentication of new standardised terminology. In this case, the DBE will have the Annual Teaching Plans (ATPs), Mathematics and Workbooks and Worksheets, as well as lesson plans in Grade 4 Mathematics and Natural Science Technology available in all official African Languages with translated, versioned, verified and authenticated terminologies as required by law. This process will assist teachers to develop lesson plans in Grade 4 Mathematics and Natural Science and Technology that are based on completely verified and authenticated terminologies and concepts in all official African Languages as part of the MTbBE national roll-out”.
Dr Naledi Mbude-Mehana, Deputy Director-General for Transformational Programmes at the DBE said that the implementation of the MTbBE has been long overdue. “The MTbBE is not a policy, but an over-arching framework that aims to widen the epistemic access to the curriculum for most African language students who are excluded from attaining positive learning outcomes due to exclusion of their home languages for teaching, learning and assessment. It was a historic moment that intended to equalise the education system as directed by the Constitution of South Africa”.