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Home LaNGUAGE As SUBJECT AND MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION. | 
(37) In regard to the desirability of applying the provisions of Chapter 22 of Ordinance 
5, 1921, to coloured schools, the evidence indicates three main groups of opinion: — 
(i) Those who favour the teaching of English as the main language with Afrikaans 
as subsidiary language of instruction in urban areas, and the use of English as 
prevailing medium of instruction, regardless of the pupil’s home language. 
(ii) Those who support the application in a modified form of the provisions of Chapter 
22 to coloured schools, 
(iii) Those who advocate the application of the provisions of Chapter 22 in its entirety 
to all coloured schools. : 
The Commission recommends :— 
(1) That in urban areas, such as Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Kimberley, both 
official languages should be taught as subjects in all the primary standards, and that the 
choice of medium should be left to the discretion of the local management. 
(2) That in the rural areas both official languages should be taught as subjects in all the 
primary standards; 
that reading and writing in the second language should not be introduced, until the 
pupils have acquired a fair working vocabulary in that language and have thoroughly 
mastered the sounds and corresponding symbols of their own language; 
that pupils should be taught exclusively through the medium of their home language, 
until as a result of systematic oral practice, they have gained sufficient knowledge of 
the second language to profit from instruction through it as medium; and 
that thereafter the second language should be increasingly employed as medium of 
instruction. 
CHIEF INSPECTOR For COLOURED EDUCATION, 
(3%) The Commission is of opinion that there is no need at the present time for the 
appointment of a Chief Inspector for Coloured Education. 
CONCT.USTON 
The foregoing are the main conclusions arrived at by the Commission. 
The intrinsic merits of the report, the Commission believes, will be found to lie in the 
fact that its proposals are by no means chimerical, but fall within the bounds of practica- 
bility, and can be gradually introduced, as circumstances permit. withont an undue burden 
heing imposed upon the tax-payer. 
While, owing to the difficulties inherent in the situation, many of which are the natural 
aftermath of years of financial stringency, it may, for some time to come at least, be impos- 
sible for the Administration to undertake the education and the preparation for life of its 
future coloured citizens on as extensive and liberal a scale as has been found practicable for 
the European population, it is confidently hoped that the necessary reforms and improve- 
ments in the system of coloured education will not be postponed indefinitely. 
In coloured education, as in many other ways, the Cape Province has blazed the trail 
to the rest of the Union. The past decade has witnessed gratifying advancement in more 
than one direction: primary education has been made free and, while books and requisites 
are not supplied free of charge, it is pleasing to record that provision exists to ensure that 
no pupil attending school is forced through poverty to go without such equipment. Likewise, 
new courses of instruction, specially designed to meet the needs of the coloured community, 
have been introduced into the coloured primary schools and training institutions. 
Still, there is much leeway to be made up; and now that the systems of European and 
native education have been thoroughly revised and brought up to date, the time seems 
opportune for a forward march in the field of coloured education. The enrolment of pupils 
has, in very many cases, increased beyond the just limits permitted by available accommoda- 
tion and teaching power. Schools in urban areas, generally, are overcrowded to such an 
extent, and the classes are so large, in many instances, as to preclude the possibility of 
adequate attention being given to pupils. 
The churches, to which the coloured community and the State owe a deep debt of 
gratitude, are unable, owing to lack of funds, to cope with a situation, which is ever growing 
in complexity and difficulty; and the missionaries—the true pioneers of coloured education 
confidently look to the State for relief. 
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