Re-imagining knowledge canons in South African education: An inquest into mother tongue-based bilingual education

Abstract

This paper examines Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education (MTbBE) in South Africa as a site for epistemic transformation rather than mere linguistic reform. While policy efforts have widened access by including African languages, classroom and institutional practices often remain anchored in Eurocentric epistemologies. Drawing on decolonial theory and existing empirical studies, the paper argues that MTbBE can only fulfil its transformative promise when language reform is coupled with pedagogical shifts, curriculum design, and institutional reward systems. It shows that translanguaging and bilingual pedagogy enhance comprehension and participation, yet genuine transformation requires teachers to use African languages as reasoning and knowledge creation resources. Re-authoring curricula and restructuring institutional incentives emerge as essential for sustaining such change. The paper contributes to debates on decolonisation by reframing MTbBE as a strategy for epistemic justice that links linguistic inclusion with cognitive renewal. It concludes that when African languages are recognised as instruments of inquiry, education can move from translation to transformation, fostering an intellectual order that reflects South Africa’s multilingual and plural realities.