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Recognising African languages in lecture halls

04 January 2021 | Story Nonsindiso Qwabe | Photo Anja Aucamp

Dr Ntsala_web read more — Dr Sekanse Ntsala

Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences and Language Education at the University of Free State, Dr Sekanse Ntsala, collaborated with colleagues from eight universities across South Africa to produce instructional reading strategies for Sesotho and isiZulu students in the Faculty of Education.

The project will see Dr Ntsala partner in the production of learning material in Sesotho and IsiZulu for Foundation and Intermediate phase lecturers, academics, and students. The project is centred in the Centre for African Language Teaching at the University of Johannesburg.

Designing African language material is a progressive move

He said there was a gap in the learning material currently being produced, as it was all produced in English, even for African languages.

"The dilemma is that thus far, all the material that we use for teaching has been written in English. This means that lecturers have to rely on material written in English, and in some instances, they have to translate into the relevant African language. The challenge with translation is that the final product does not always come out the same. You find that even when lecturers have to compile study guides, they still have to rely on the same material. It's a challenge that affects even students themselves, as discussions and assessments have to be done in the African language in question."

He said rather than to translate the content that has been written in English, the collaboration will result in newly created material for Sesotho and IsiZulu.

The two languages were selected as pilot languages; Dr Ntsala said the aim of the project is to expand the creation of material to other languages in order to eliminate English as the main focus in teaching.

"The main rationale is that it's only fair that we have material that will be relevant to a particular language. The manner in which it is happening now is sort of degrading to other languages," he said.

Dr Ntsala said the material would be completed by the end of 2020 and would then go through the process of getting approval from the deaneries of the approved universities, as well as from the Department of Education.

"We are trying to ensure that every language gets recognition in classrooms. Having material that is language-specific is a step in the right direction to ensure that each language is given the respect it deserves."

News Archive

UFS Business School positioned as key partner in the fight against fraud

2016-11-21

A collaborative effort to curb the scourge of fraud in public and private companies has been identified as the most effective method at the launch of International Fraud Awareness week, 13-19 November. The programme kicked off with a media briefing held in Bloemfontein, under the theme: “Curb Fraud and Accelerate Economic Transformation”. At this occasion, the Free State Provincial Treasury and key partner institutions which are: UFS Business School, Standard Bank, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), and PricewaterhouseCoopers, made a pronouncement on their efforts to stop fraud in public and private institutions.

Strategic partnerships empower companies
The UFS Business School, in collaboration with Strategic Investigations and Seminars, formed a collaborative effort to present the Advanced Certificate in Fraud Examination, thus empowering individual companies to have within their ranks, certified fraud examiners. The programme is a registered SAQA, NQF level 7 course comprising four modules; Law, Investigation, Fraud Prevention, Detection and Ethics, Financial Transactions and Fraud Schemes. Students are assisted to continue to the ACFE Board examination in order to become internationally accredited. In 2016, a new e-learning model was introduced to decrease the time spent away from the workplace, thereby encouraging more professionals to enrol.

Commitment is key driving force
Speaking at the media briefing, Jo’Anni Deacon, Senior Officer at the UFS Business School, said “by presenting the programme, the university had positioned itself as a key partner with provincial government and other entities in the fight against fraud”.

Head of Department in the Free State Provincial Treasury, Godfrey Mahlatsi, reiterated the stance of zero tolerance against fraud, and that the department was committed to ensuring that this partnership continued to grow, enabling all to strengthen the message that fraud and corruption undermined the goals and objectives of the National Development Plan.

Gerhard Geldenhuys, Director of PwC Forensic Services said: “I believe we are making a difference and further believe that the time for dialogue on fraud is now better than ever.”

The week-long campaign encourages employees (both in the public and private sector), and business leaders, to proactively take action to minimise the impact of fraud in their environments.

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