By Simon Nare
Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane and Cosatu have called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to disregard the noise and threats around the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill and sign it into law on Friday as planned.
Chiloane and the federation both hailed the bill on Thursday, saying it would strengthen and improve the education sector, and accused some organisations who were opposed to it of spreading lies about the proposed law.
“The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) welcomes the Bill as it will empower the head of department (HOD) to make critical decisions regarding school admissions and language policies.
“This is crucial in assisting the department to manage school admissions effectively and address resistance from certain school governing bodies (SGB) that oppose transformation,” said Chiloane.
Cosatu said that the Bill, which would become law when Ramaphosa signed it, contained long overdue progressive provisions that would help protect the rights of learners to dignity and protection.
“It is a tragedy that in the course of the public debate some have chosen to deliberately distort some of its provisions and others have simply decided to fabricate things which are actually not in the bill,” it said in the statement.
Some of the key amendments in the Bill include:
• Making Grade R compulsory and ensuring that all children receive early childhood education so that they are better prepared for formal schooling
• Holding parents accountable for ensuring that their children are enrolled in school
• Criminalising the disruption of school activities and ensuring that learners can study in a safe and focused environment
• Compelling SGB members to declare personal or financial interests to promote transparency and prevent conflicts of interest in school governance
• Empowering an HOD to investigate the financial affairs of schools when irregularities are suspectedand ensuring that school funds are managed properly and benefit learners directly
• Imposing penalties for submitting false or forged documents during the admission process, protecting the integrity of the admissions system and ensuring that all learners are treated fairly
The MEC also spoke about concerns raised by some political parties on the language they were taught in.
“We fully support the president in signing this Bill into law. Changing demographics in our communities mean that it is unacceptable for schools to deny learners access to schools closer to their residence based on language,” he said.
Chiloane argued that if numbers dictated that a school must be changed to be a dual-medium school, that should happen without interference.
“Public schools serve the public and no learner should be excluded. The HOD will be empowered to ensure that language policies are inclusive and responsive to the needs of the community,” said Chiloane.
The signing of the Bill threatened to collapse the government of national unity, with Democratic Alliance leader John Steeinhuisen calling for an urgent meeting on Wednesday with Ramaphosa to discuss the matter.
But on Thursday DA spokesperson Willie Aucamp told Newzroom Afrika that the signing of the Bill is not a deal breaker and the party would rather go to court to stop it from being implemented.
“It’s very important to realise that the DA is not threatening to exit the government of national unity; the threat currently is from the president’s side. The president knew how we and other parties feel about this and he decided to carry on irrespective of our feelings.
“So, it is the ANC that is in their action being a threat to the GNU. We must protect this GNU at all costs and the Democratic Alliance will look at all options available to us should it be signed into law. We will take this court, we will take this to the Constitutional Court,” threatened Aucamp.
ActionSA is also considering taking the matter to court.
The president is set to sign the Bill into law at the Union Buildings.
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