Minister Angie Motshekga now hopes giving learners the opportunity to write the final exams in their mother tongue will help increase the pass rate.
"The province has conducted research and provided evidence that their learners could be struggling with English as a language of teaching and learning, hence the underachievement [in matric exams]. The province proposed an examination in both English and isiXhosa in grade 12," Motshekga said.
Motshekga said the decision has been backed by research in the field of African languages.
"There is a huge body of current research on African languages that confirms that orthographies and the linguistic structures of African languages are unique and different to the English language," she said.
She said the Eastern Cape would lead the way and other provinces would then be able to follow.
"We will take lessons from the Eastern Cape as we continue with implementation in other provinces," Motshekga said.
Eastern Cape Department of Education communications manager, Loyiso Phulumane said the project took a long time because existing policies were against learners being taught in their home language.
“For the first time the council of education ministers accepted the importance of acknowledging mother tongue bilingual education.”
