The works of William Shakespeare, the poet and playwright widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language, could soon feature less prominently and possibly be completely removed from South African schools’ curriculum.
The Department of Basic Education is looking to review the national curriculum, including the emphasis on the works of Shakespeare often prescribed for teaching and learning. This comes as debate on "decolonising" the curriculum in universities and schools continues to rage. The issue also took centre stage during the recent #FeesMustFall protests.
According to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, a focus on "decolonisation" will continue to feature in the curriculum review process.
She said there was a need to move towards the greater inclusion of African and South African writings for novels/
drama and poetry and this would be part of the long-term curriculum review process.
"Therefore, the consideration of the works of Shakespeare is an aspect of the overall literature review process targeted for 2020 and thus concrete work on this shall only begin in 2018," Motshekga said in a parliamentary reply to a DA question.
"In response to issues raised by the committee on decolonisation, clarification was given of how the curriculum review process since Curriculum 2005 has included the need for transformation," Motshekga said.
DA MP and basic education spokesman Gavin Davis said on Sunday the party supported a rich, diverse English Literature curriculum relevant to the South African context.
"This could include great authors such as William Shakespeare, Harper Lee, Maya Angelou, George Orwell, Chinua Achebe, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Mongane Wally Serote and K Sello Duiker. Any review must take into account the development of the canon and there is no question that Shakespeare is foundational," Davis said.
"It’s like studying physics without Isaac Newton or political philosophy without Karl Marx. They are fundamental to the development of those disciplines. They can’t be ignored, whether you agree with them or not. We support empowering learners to engage critically with the world around them. We don’t support removing authors for ideological reasons or because they don’t fit in with a political party’s idea of who is acceptable and who isn’t."
Equal Education general secretary Tshepo Motsepe said the lobby group supported the plan to remove the works of Shakespeare from the curriculum.
"In our previous teaching and learning summit held in July 2016, we drafted an education charter which called for a review of the curriculum.
"We recognised the current curriculum as reinforcing colonial teaching and learning while neglecting African literature in particular when looking at what is being taught as literature in our schools.
"This also applies to the history curriculum. South African and African history has taken a back seat and our learners are not taught the rich history we [have] as a nation. We would welcome this much-needed review especially for English and history subjects," he said.
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