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
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