The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) replied as follows to a query from the Sunday Times on the department's approach to mother-tongue education:

The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) launched a Language Transformation Plan in February 2007 to promote mother tongue-based education and multilingualism in Western Cape schools.

Key objectives include promoting mother tongue-based bilingual education for at least six years in primary schools wherever practicable.

Another key objective is to try and ensure that all learners have at least a basic communicative competence in all three languages of the province (Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa) Vaqrious before the end of General Education and Training (Grades 1 - 9).

The WCED launched a pilot programme last year in which 16 schools extended mother tongue-based bilingual education from Grade 3 to Grade 6.

The WCED is basing the plan on international research that shown the extent to which mother-tongue education benefits learners in the long run.

The Language Transformation Plan forms part of the WCED's strategy to improve literacy and numeracy results in primary schools. The department is monitoring the Language Transformation schools to see what difference the plan is making to their results.

The WCED has surveyed literacy and numeracy skills in primary schools every year since 2002, alternating between Grades 3 and 6. The results help to inform ongoing development of the department's literacy and numeracy strategy.

Eight of the 16 Language Transformation schools opted to write the latest Grade 6 literacy and numeracy tests on October and November last year in isiXhosa. The eight schools achieved results almost four times higher than their scores for the previous Grade 6 test in 2005.

Various factors are responsible, including better teaching methods. However, we are confident than the Language Transformation Plan is playing an important role in improving results.