Akademia’s new education faculty: This is how Afrikaans’s higher functions will be preserved

6 October 2021

The private institution for higher education, Akademia, has demonstrated its commitment to ensuring a future for Afrikaans by introducing its new faculty of education.

Nothing demonstrates faith in the future quite like investing in the next generation. The FF Plus wishes to congratulate Akademia on taking this big step and expresses the hope that the faculty will contribute meaningfully to the services already offered by the institution.

Akademia is more than just an initiative by the private sector. While there are several private institutions for higher education that were established with their primary focus on making profit, Akademia is a leap of faith – sowing seeds on the Afrikaans cultural soil.

Although it must be profitable in order to remain functional, that is a secondary objective.

The dean of the new faculty, Professor Gawie du Toit, has already made his mark in the field of education. He was a professor at the University of the Free State, from where he went to the Sol Plaatje University in Kimberley to establish the same faculty there. His involvement in Akademia adds further prominence to this great undertaking.

Since 1994, the loss of function, particularly in higher education, has been at the order of the day. Under the pretext that all indigenous languages must be considered equal and that Afrikaans should "stand back" a little to allow other indigenous languages the opportunity to reach the same level of academic development, English quickly became the dominant academic language in South Africa.

Those who value Afrikaans must take note of the broader context in which they find themselves. Long-term planning for Afrikaans as university language needs to be done while the decline of the language at public universities ought to be prevented.

In the meantime, the FF Plus is doing everything in its power to improve the environment so that institutions, like Akademia, can flourish. Thus, an unwavering stance was taken against the statement by Minister of Higher Education, Dr Blade Nzimande, that private institutions for higher education must follow the same language policy as public universities.

Furthermore, those private institutions that meet all the requirements, must be allowed to be called universities. They must also be allowed to confer the title of professor on academics who deserve the honour. The FF Plus has taken a stand for all these rights in Parliament and will continue to do so.

Issued by Wynand Boshoff, FF Plus MP and chief spokesperson: Higher Education, 6 October 2021