In the latest version of the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill, the ANC wants to carry out a coup against the parents and children of South Africa by usurping the powers of school governing bodies (SGBs) to determine the admissions and language policies of schools in their communities.
It also wants to enhance the powers of ANC cadres to merge and rename merged schools.
By robbing governing bodies of the powers, the Department of Basic Education plans to centralise control over public schools in the hands of ANC cadres like Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi.
Should the bill be passed, the national Department of Basic Education, led by Minister Angie Motshekga, will be handing a loaded weapon to the likes of Lesufi to finish the war he has long waged against governing bodies and mother-tongue education.
While we support educational reform, we will not support a bill that, ultimately, disempowers schools and communities and fails to address even one of the systemic challenges that impede quality education in SA – overcrowding, curriculum failures, poor literacy and numeracy rates, dropouts, unsafe and unsanitary education facilities, poor quality teaching and lack of resources.
The parliamentary portfolio committee on basic education’s ANC majority disregarded the bulk of submissions that rejected the Bela Bill and voiced concerns regarding its implementation: Mandatory Grade R: The Department of Basic Education does not have the R12 billion needed to implement this for all learners.
Admission policies: The administrative burden on the head of department to approve every admission policy in the province would be immense and impractical and could lead to abuse of power. Language policies: This clause could be exploited to target single language and mother tongue education schools to change their language policies.
Centralisation of power: SGBs at public schools and schools for learners with special needs should be free to determine how their members are elected, without the minister’s intrusion in the provinces. Regulation of the home schooling sector: The department has failed to meaningfully engage with the home schooling sector regarding the most reasonable and appropriate ways to assess learners.
Nor has it satisfactorily addressed parents’ concerns regarding registration of learners and inspection of premises.
Can we trust the ANC government to deliver quality education after it has consistently failed to do so for 30 years?
* Thulani Dasa, Khayelitsha.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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