Johannesburg - The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has expressed dissatisfaction with the bogus circular from the ‘’Department of Education’’ that has been spreading on social media.
According to department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga, the circular appears to be aimed at school administrators, principals, and educators, with declarations taking effect in 2024.
He stated that the DBE intends to declare this circular to be false and urges all members of the public to disregard the charges.
‘’The DBE has drafted two documents: the Protocol for the Elimination of Unfair Discrimination in Schools and the Guidelines for the Socio-Educational Inclusion of Diverse Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Expression, and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) in Schools.’’
‘’As directed by the Heads of Education Departments Committee (HEDCOM) and the Council of Education Ministers (CEM), the DBE is currently conducting stakeholder consultations on these two documents in districts and provinces.’’
‘’The DBE is compiling a log of consultation comments and will eventually present these comments and the revised documents to HEDCOM and CEM for approval." So far, seven (7) provinces have conducted stakeholder consultations, with the remaining Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces expected to conclude by the end of June 2023. Following that, the amended paper will be made available for public feedback.’’
Mhlanga said the documents are the result of a collaborative effort with members of the South African Council for Educators (SACE), the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), the Commission on Gender Equality (CGE), and the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC).
‘’These two documents were created in response to previous litigation against Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) for poor observance of human rights of children with diverse sexual and gender identities in schools, as well as the need for the DBE to ensure that basic education, as a public service, remains human-rights compliant.’’
‘’Since receiving the report from the committee appointed by the Minister of Basic Education in 2016 to investigate racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination in learning and teaching support materials (LTSM) and textbooks, the DBE has been advancing recommendations to guide schools in the elimination of unfair discrimination.’’
‘’The plan is to work with LTSM publishers to review biassed content in LTSM and textbooks.’’
He went on to say that ‘’the DBE has the mandate and obligation to protect the constitutional rights of all children in their diversity.’’
‘’These rights are enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, and some legislative and policy frameworks such as the Public Service Act 103 of 1994, the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996, the Children’s Act 38 of 2005, the Policy on the South African Standard for Principalship, the Professional Teaching Standards of SACE, and the South African National Action Plan to Combat Racism, Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerances.
‘’This social inclusion work of the DBE is supported by regional, continental, and global instruments such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) of 1990, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child of 1990, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 2000, and the Yogyakarta Charter, adopted in 2007, emphasising the need for, among others, social inclusion of SOGIESC in schools,’’ said Mhlanga.
The Star