Johnathan Paoli
THE Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, chaired by Bongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba, commenced on Tuesday with deliberations on the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill.
The BELA Bill proposes certain changes to the South African Schools Act such as transferring control to the Education Department in determining a school’s language policy and curriculums, compulsory schooling from Grade R, and the prohibition of corporal punishment and initiation practices, among other measures.
The bill was introduced in Parliament on 10 January 2022, following a public consultation process from 2016.
However the bill has since garnered a lot of resistance with some claiming that it will give Education Minister Angie Motshekga extraordinary powers to override School Governing Bodies (SGBs).
The DA along with other organisations such as AfriForum have attacked the proposed bill claiming that it is in line with the increasing tendency of proposed legislation to concentrate power in the hands of the ANC, and that in this instance it will be used to attack mother-tongue learning and take away powers from local SGBs.
“We have argued against various clauses in the draconian BELA Bill that seeks to centralise power in the hands of the ANC government. We believe that this Bill will be deployed against mother-tongue education schools by forcing them to change their admission and language policies,” Shadow Minister of Basic Education, Baxolile Babongile Nodada said.
Shadow Minister Nodada went on to maintain the DA’s vigilance in fighting for the rights of South Africans “clause-by-clause” in the impending deliberations which will continue this week.
INSIDE EDUCATION
