80 | Zimbabwe Rule of Law Journal official languages need to be developed (in terms of curriculum, course books and teachers) in order for them to be used at different levels of education. Since most of the 16 official language speakers are factually in an economic and political non-dominant position, government financial assistance plays a crucial ole in making mother tongue education a reality. Alternatively, teaching materials can be sourced from South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana and Malawi where most of our minority languages are major languages that have developed teaching materials. Practically, the sliding scale approach could play a crucial role in determining which official languages should be developed and taught in which areas.79 The state would be expected to provide education in a certain official language if the linguistic group is of a certain size and are concentrated in a certain area.80 Second, mother tongue education can be denied if the limitation is reasonable and justifiable.81 The proportionality requirement discussed above would apply. The second purpose of amending section 62(2) of the Education Act is to qualify the minister’s discretion when authorizing the teaching in indigenous languages. The minister should consider the number of speakers of the language, the extent to which the language has been developed, the availability of textbooks and reading material, the availability of resource, the availability of teachers and examiners, etc. ii. Curriculum content International law enjoins states to adopt a multicultural approach82 where the education curricula should objectively reflect, among others, the culture and language of historically disadvantaged language groups.83 Ideally, the text materials to be used should also be representative of the perspectives of members of different sections of society.84 This aspect is not reflected in the Education Act. 79 K Henrard op cit note 10 260-261. 80 F de Varennes op cit note 66 at 189. 81 Belgian Linguistic Case 1 EHRR 252 (1965) 284-254 held that the denial of mother- tongue education may not be for arbitrary reasons but must have an objective and reasonable justification. 82 See Article 4 of the 1992 UN Declaration on the Rights of Minorities and Article 12 of the Framework Convention. 83 K Henrard op cit note 10 262-265. 84 It is interesting to note that arts 18 and 19 of the African Cultural Renaissance provide that “African states recognize