Gwarube hails start of mother tongue-based assessments

MINISTER of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, has welcomed the start of the historic Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education (MTbBE) Grade 4 assessments in Natural Science and Technology and Mathematics. The Western Cape observes 187 schools offering Afrikaans, IsiXhosa, and Sesotho.

- STAFF REPORTER

The Department of Basic Education confirmed a total of 11948 schools across all nine provinces are implementing Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education this year.

According to the department, these schools reflect the rich linguistic diversity of South Africa and demonstrate a national commitment to harnessing the power of language for educational success.

The provincial breakdown is as follows:

Eastern Cape: 3 860 schools offering Afrikaans, IsiXhosa, and Sesotho.

KwaZulu-Natal: 3 558 schools offering Afrikaans, IsiXhosa, IsiZulu, and Sesotho.

Limpopo: 2 229 schools offering IsiNdebele, Tshivenda, IsiZulu, Sepedi, Setswana, and Xitsonga.

Mpumalanga: 768 schools offering Afrikaans, IsiNdebele, IsiXhosa, IsiZulu, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, Siswati, and Xitsonga.