Mandarin Chinese introduced at 44 S. African schools: minister

CAPE TOWN, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A total number of 44 schools across South Africa have introduced Mandarin in this academic year, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said on Tuesday.

The Western Cape Province has 27 schools that have introduced Mandarin, the highest number in the country, to be followed by Gauteng (11), the Eastern Cape (three) and KwaZulu-Natal (three), the minister said in a parliamentary reply.

Schools in other provinces will follow suit, the minister said.

A total number of 500 schools in South Africa will offer Mandarin as a second additional language in the next five years, according to Motshekga.

Ultimately 100 teachers will be trained for this year and 500 will be trained over the next five years, the minister said.

She said South African teachers will undergo a three-week training programme, which is sponsored by the Institute of Global Chinese Language Teacher Education.

The roll-out of Mandarin teaching was incrementally implemented in schools with Grades 4-9 and 10 in January 2016, to be followed by Grade 11 in 2017 and Grade 12 in 2018, according to the Department of Basic Education.

Under the South African Schools Act of 1996, education is compulsory for all South Africans from the age of seven (grade 1) to age 15, or the completion of grade 9. Further Education and Training takes place from grades 10 to 12.

The Chinese government will send Chinese teachers to South Africa and donate 2, 000 textbooks to assist in teaching Mandarin in schools until a South African textbook is developed, Motshekga said earlier.

Mandarin is one of the most commonly spoken languages in the world.