South Africa's school curriculum will include the Chinese language as an elective subject in select schools from January 2016. In March 2014, China's Ministry of Education and South Africa's Department of Basic Education (DBE) signed an implementation plan to strengthen education ties at an institutional and policy level. The introduction of Chinese forms part of those ties. ChinAfrica asked DBE spokesperson Troy Martens about the language option and the objections made by the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (SADTU).

ChinAfrica: What is the elective Chinese program?

Troy Martens: Schools wanting to offer Chinese will be able to do so from January 2016. These schools must indicate to the DBE that they wish to take part in the process and have the capacity to offer the subject. The subject will be offered to learners who wish to take it up as a third language elective subject. [It] will be offered as an elective (third language) option from grades four to 12.

How will you recruit teachers for such a large-scale operation?

The [Chinese] Government has agreed to send 100 volunteer Chinese teachers to South Africa every year to teach the subject for the next five years. In addition, a specialist Chinese language advisor will be based at the DBE to oversee the rollout of the project. An additional 100 South African teachers will be trained in teaching Chinese annually for the next five years.

Why is it important for South African learners to study Chinese?

The potential for young South Africans in the world is endless, and this is one more way to give South African learners an edge in the global economic playing field. China is fast becoming one of South Africa's largest trading partners. Young people who are fluent in Chinese would have increased opportunities and strengthen ties, both culturally and economically, between the two nations.

Will aspects of Chinese culture be included along with the language instruction?

The bilateral agreement on education between the two countries "encourages the studying of the languages, literature, culture and history of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of South Africa and those of the Republic of South Africa in the People's Republic of China." This will take place through promotion of Confucius classrooms, and twinning of South African schools with Chinese schools, among others.

How does learning Chinese fit into the wider plan of educational collaboration in other areas where China is traditionally strong, such as mathematics and science?

The Chinese Government will assist in compiling Chinese textbooks suitable [for] the South African curriculum; they will also assist the DBE in compiling humanities textbooks for teaching Chinese history as part of the curriculum for grades 10 and 11. China plans to build three new Confucius institutes in South Africa and 20 Confucius classrooms in primary and high schools across the country during the next five years. The DBE will partner with the Chinese National Institute of Education Sciences and a group of Chinese experts will join South African experts and DBE officials for a seminar on mathematics, science and technology. One of the very exciting developments is the Sci-Bono Discovery Center in Gauteng Province [being] selected for the construction of a planetarium by the China Educational Instrument & Equipment Corp. South African schoolchildren can utilize [it] for educational purposes.

Recently, the SADTU called for the rejection of the Chinese language initiative on the grounds of "colonizing through language." What is the DBE's response to this?

The call by the SADTU is unfortunate and we believe, based on a misunderstanding. We will continue to consult [them] to clarify the situation. It needs to be clarified that [introducing the Chinese language option] will not interfere with the rollout of our African languages program, which seems to be the [SADTU's] main concern. It must be made clear that Chinese will be offered purely as an elective subject at a third language level. The two compulsory languages will still be the two South African official languages and the Incremental Introduction of African Languages to schools that currently do not offer an African language will not be affected by the introduction of Chinese. There are currently a number of foreign languages offered on an elective basis in the same way Chinese is offered. These include German, French, Spanish, Tamil, Urdu, Portuguese, Arabic and Hebrew. The SADTU has never raised concern over these, leading to the assumption that their concerns are based on a misunderstanding of the current program.