The never ending story

I'm sure that most of the followers of my blog will be aware that one of my passions is education. Formal or otherwise. That is why I get upset when I read of the latest hare brained scheme to overcome the dismal performance statistics of our universities. I've read that only 5% of Africans complete their undergraduate studies. Now in order to improve that it is being considered at the University of Natal I believe to teach Physics in Zulu, as this is the mother tonge of the majority of the students as their command of the English language is very shaky at best. But then it was discovered that none of the vocabulary used in the teaching of physics, like 'vector, displacement, momentum, conductivity' exist in the native language. The same foolish idea was mooted a few years ago to have the official aviation language in the province to include Zulu. Again that grandiose idea had to be scrapped for the same reason. Someone pointed out to the official in charge of aviation that we have a wee problem. No such fancy words exist in Zulu. Can you imagine the tower at the international airport in Durban directing an incoming 747 from London to use runway 32? I'm sure the captain of that 747 would have a few choice words in the Queens English for that ATC controller. We don't seem to get it. My approach would be to teach the students English. After all they have just spent 12 years at primary and high school. Might have been an ideal opportunity to teach them something useful. I do not know any potential employer of a physics major who could have use for a physicist who can't speak English. Let alone write a report of his latest nuclear experiment.