A systematic review of key challenges in implementing Mother Tongue-Based Bilingual Education in South African Schools

South Africa remains one of the few countries where learners are not fully educated in their mother tongue. To address this gap, the government introduced Mother Tongue-Based Bilingual Education (MTBBE), endorsed through Circular 18 of 2024, which mandates its phased implementation from 2025, starting in Grade 4. The purpose of this study is to explore the challenges and opportunities educators face in implementing MTBBE in South African classrooms. A systematic literature review (SLR) was employed to collect, evaluate, and synthesize existing studies on MTBBE within the South African context, focusing on policy, practice, and classroom experiences. The findings reveal that while MTBBE promises to uplift indigenous languages and enhance learning outcomes, its implementation is constrained by inadequate teacher preparation, limited teaching resources, insufficient institutional and policy support, and curriculum development gaps. These systemic barriers undermine the government’s efforts to ensure equitable multilingual education. The discussion highlights that although MTBBE aligns with the Language in Education Policy (LiEP), which clearly indicates that all languages should receive equal footing in schools, there is a mismatch between policy intentions and classroom realities. Based on the evidence, this study recommends targeted teacher training in bi-/mutilingual pedagogy, the development of contextually relevant learning materials, stronger policy monitoring mechanisms, and increased collaboration between schools, communities, and higher education institutions. The study contributes to scholarship by bridging the gap between theoretical advocacy for MTBBE and its practical challenges, offering a framework for sustainable implementation that can strengthen multilingual education in South Africa and beyond.