University did not violate language policy
Stellenbosch University (SU) has welcomed a Western Cape High Court judgment which declared that the university did not violate its language policy.
The Western Cape High Court dismissed an application by the DA and the university's student organisation StudentePlein (SP) to have the changes in the language implementation plans in the four semesters of 2020 and 2021 declared unconstitutional, unlawful, and in violation of the policy.
A News24 report says the DA and SP had accused the university of using the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse to do away with providing learning material in Afrikaans during this period.
They also argued the university violated its 2016 language policy by making learning material available only in English, and not Afrikaans.
‘The ruling… confirms SU's ongoing point of view that there was no deviation from the Language Policy, but rather consulted and approved changes to certain language arrangements of certain faculties. SU's Language Policy made full provision for this,’ said the University’s Professor Deresh Ramjugernath.
In its papers, the DA and SP argued that the ‘deviation from Afrikaans’ was imposed on university faculties by the academic planning committee (APC), which influenced the senate to approve it.
They argued that this violated the policy, which stipulated that faculties should make changes and that it should not be ‘imposed’ by the senate.
The News24 report says in its judgment, the court said that although promoting multi-lingualism was among the core pillars of the policy, it made provisions for changes under unprecedented circumstances like the pandemic.
The court stated that before the government introduced the hard lockdown in March 2020, faculties had – in 2019 – made submissions for the 2020 academic year.
These plans were, however, scrapped when universities had to introduce alternatives to adhere to the regulations. The court ruled that these changes, including in the language policy, were detailed in the university's documents on its plan for the pandemic.
The ruling also cited a February 2021 communiqué sent to students by the university, in which it said online learning would continue despite the relaxation of some regulations. It indicated that changes in the language policy would continue.
The court ruled that SP failed to indicate in its argument that students who preferred to learn in Afrikaans could understand English, which meant there was no violation of their constitutional right to an education.
It also found that the university sufficiently informed students of the changes in the policy and that these were not ‘imposed’ on faculties.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
