By Levy Masiteng
The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education has welcomed progress in implementing the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Act, but warned that limiting draft regulations to English and Afrikaans risks excluding communities from shaping key changes to school admissions and language policy.
The committee received a briefing from the Department of Basic Education (DBE) on Tuesday, about the status of BELA regulations, provincial readiness for the 2026 school year, reforms to language and admissions policies, and updates on Grade R and early learning.
Members voiced concern that the regulations had been translated only into Afrikaans and English, a step they said undermined “meaningful participation” by parents and communities.
The department told MPs it had followed guidelines from the Office of the Chief State Law Adviser, which require that regulations align with the language and content of the principal Act. Because the South African Schools Act was originally published in English and Afrikaans, the department said it was constrained to using those two languages.
The committee rejected that justification. According to chairperson Joy Maimela, the guidelines are not binding law and cannot override constitutional obligations.
She said that South Africa has 12 official languages and that the Constitution requires the state to take “practical and positive measures” to elevate indigenous languages.
“Translation choices should support, not undermine, that obligation,” she said.
Rights group Equal Education has formally called on the department to translate the draft regulations into other official South African languages, saying that many communities and schools only became aware of the documents after civil society intervened.
Maimela told the meeting that while the department had extended the deadline for public comment, it had not expanded translations to additional languages. “If a parent or practitioner cannot read the text, they are effectively excluded from the process, no matter how long the deadline is,” she said.
She said she would write formally to the department and to the Office of the Chief State Law Adviser to record that civil society’s language concerns were not substantively addressed, and to press for a more inclusive approach.
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube acknowledged that the criticism about language and exclusion were valid, and that the executive must do better when publishing documents for public comment.
The committee also welcomed data presented on the early impact of BELA’s language and admissions provisions, particularly in former Model C schools.
Of the 19,686 schools reported, including about 1,795 former Model C schools, 274 Afrikaans-medium schools have added English in response to demographic and parental demand and 946 former Model C schools now offer at least one African language.
MPs were also told that 1,080 schools have submitted revised admissions policies and 1,047 have finalised updated language policies.
Maimela said the figures were an “important step forward” in dismantling historic barriers embedded in language and admissions rules.
But the committee also said that the number of former Model C schools that have incorporated African languages remains low, and requested a school-level spreadsheet.
The committee said the data would guide targeted oversight visits and direct engagement with schools where change is lagging, so that “the public can feel the real impact of the BELA Act in expanded access and greater linguistic inclusion”.
“The law is not an abstract exercise. It must translate into open, inclusive schools that do not use language or admissions policies as a barrier to children’s right to basic education,” said Maimela.
INSIDE EDUCATION
