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23 February 2022 | Story Lacea Loader

From 24 February 2022 – as an interim solution to the challenges experienced with the disruption of classes on the University of the Free State (UFS) Bloemfontein Campus during the week of 21 February 2022 – the academic programme will continue in a differentiated and flexible online mode in some modules within faculties.

Face-to-face classes will continue in those modules where online teaching is not possible at this stage. Students will be informed by their respective faculties as to which modules will be moving online, and which will remain face to face.

This is a temporary measure to enable the campus to return to stability. The arrangement is estimated to continue for two to three weeks at the most, after which the academic programme will return to the approved teaching plans for 2022.

As an additional measure and to mitigate the challenges of remote off-campus internet access, 10 GB of data is provided free of charge through Global Protect to all registered students for the next month. This will enable students to link to learning resources off campus at no cost. The use of social media is, however, not included in the 10 GB.

Enquiries regarding GlobalProtect can be directed to the ICT Services Call Centre at +27 51 401 9111 (option 4).

Computer laboratories on the campus will remain available to vaccinated students whose modules will be moving online.

Issued by:
Lacea Loader
Director: Communication and Marketing
University of the Free State
loaderl@ufs.ac.za

23 February 2022

News Archive

Sesotho dictionary to be published
2008-04-15

 
Mr Motsamai Motsapi,  editor-in-chief.

A comprehensive bilingual Sesotho dictionary will be published in the 2008/2009 financial year, thanks to the efforts of the Sesiu sa Sesotho National Lexicography Unit hosted by the University of the Free State (UFS). ”Sesiu” is a Sesotho word meaning ”a reservoir for storing grains”.

According to the Editor-in-Chief of the Sesiu sa Sesotho National Lexicography Unit, Mr Motsamai Motsapi, the unit intends to continuously develop and modernize the Sesotho language so that its speakers are empowered to express themselves through Sesotho without any impediments, in all spheres of life.

The unit is one of the 11 nationally established Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) structures representing South Africa’s 11 official languages.

Their main objective is to preserve and record the various indigenous languages by compiling user-friendly, comprehensive monolingual dictionaries and other lexicographic products, and to develop and promote these languages in all spheres of life.

The Minister of Arts and Culture, Dr Pallo Jordan, has lamented the fact that it is virtually impossible to find a bookstore in any of the country’s shopping malls that distributes literature in the indigenous African languages.

The minister said the capacity to both write and read in one’s home language gives real meaning to freedom of expression.

Therefore the publication of this Sesotho dictionary should be seen in the context of the development of the indigenous languages, as encapsulated in both the minister’s vision and that of the Sesiu sa Sesotho National Lexicography Unit.

The pending publication of this dictionary is the culmination of years of hard work invested in this project by the Sesiu sa Sesotho National Lexicography Unit.

“I believe that slowly but surely we have made some strides, as we have produced a Sesotho translation dictionary draft in 2006 covering letters A to Z. We have also built a considerable Sesotho corpus. But we still have a mammoth task ahead of us, because the work of compiling a dictionary does not end”, said Mr Motsapi.

“All Sesotho speakers should be involved, as the language belongs to the speech communities, and not to certain individuals”, he added.

He said given the reality that the UFS is situated in a predominantly Sesotho-speaking province and is part of its general community, it will always benefit the university to be part of the efforts of the South African nation to address the past by ensuring the development of the Sesotho language.

The unit is located in the African Languages Department of the Faculty of the Humanities at the UFS, and collaborates closely with the Language Research and Development Centre (LRDC) at the UFS to further the development of the Sesotho language. It is funded by PanSALB.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt.stg@ufs.ac.za  
15 April 2008
 

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