THE portfolio committee on basic education has this week started hearing oral submissions on planned changes for school regulations in South Africa, with presentations pushing back hard against certain provisions in the proposed laws.
The Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill (BELA) is currently being processed by parliament and is at the stage of public consultation. Several groups related to the homeschooling sector and other stakeholders have already submitted written commentary, but the next few weeks have been set aside for oral submissions.
Presenters, including the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and various legal experts, joined a growing list of organisations opposed to large parts of the regulations this week.
Broadly, the BELA Bill proposes to amend the South African Schools Act (SASA) and the Employment of Educators Act (EEA) to align them with developments in the education landscape and to ensure that systems of learning are put in place in a manner that gives effect to the right to basic education as enshrined in the Constitution.
To accomplish this, some of the key amendments that the Bill aims to make include:
- – Making grade R the new compulsory school starting age, as opposed to grade 1, as is currently the case.
- – Forcing homeschooled learners to be registered for this type of schooling
- – Criminalising parents who do not ensure their child or children are in school, with fines or jail time up to 12 months.
- – Requiring parents and learners to supply specified documentation when applying.
- – Holding school governing bodies more accountable for disclosures of financial interests – including those related to their spouses and family members.
- – Prohibiting educators from conducting business with the state or being a director of public or private companies conducting business with the state.
- – Abolishing corporal punishment and initiation/hazing practices.
The Bill also includes controversial changes, such as allowing schools to sell alcohol outside of school hours and giving government department heads more power around the language policies and curriculums a school must adopt.
These two changes came under sharp focus this week, along with many others, with oral presentations clashing with the government over the proposals.
Pushback
According to parliament’s committee recap, the following submissions were made:
The ChristianView Network told the committee that the proposals would take more powers away from parents in directing the path of their children’s education. This was a sentiment expressed by many of the written submissions last week. The group proposed that schools that are running well, should be left alone to do so.
A joint presentation from Equal Education (EE) and the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) pushed back against the criminalisation of parents whose children do not attend school and said this should be removed in its entirety.
According to the groups, criminalisation will not tackle the underlying problems keeping children out of schools and risks leaving children without their caregivers, as the change will most likely impact single mothers and other vulnerable groups.
In general, the SAHRC welcomed most provisions of the Bill but expressed concerns over the required list of documents from learners and parents, which it said would lead to “an exclusionary approach” from schools and serve as a deterrent for parents bringing their undocumented children to school.
Several other presenters also raised this clause as troublesome.
The Commissioner for Children in the Western Cape raised concerns and made recommendations regarding parents’ role in their child’s education, allowing alcohol to be sold on the school property, the principle of non-discrimination, and the understanding of discipline at schools.
The organisation World Changers – which works predominantly with the abuse of alcohol and drugs – urged the committee to remove the clause regarding the consumption of alcohol at schools outside of school hours from the Bill entirely.
The FW de Klerk Foundation raised concerns relating to the extended powers of the Head of Department, the impact on mother tongue education as well as the impact on undocumented learners, while Die Skole Ondersteuningsentrum said Afrikaans schools and language were under attack in the country and in the Bill.
Oral submissions on the bill will continue next week (15 November).
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