The Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill was introduced to parliament and should concern everyone who is part of the school community. This is because the draft bill proposes to amend the South African Schools Act and the Employment of Educators Act.
One of the more contentious issues raised around the BELA Bill is that parents could face legal action and even jail if their children do not attend school.
Equal Education’s Jane Borman explains that this is problematic, as issues that affect school attendance are often linked to poverty, insecurity as well as other barriers of access. They believe these issues must be addressed rather than to put parents in jail for the attendance of learners.
We feel we need to tackle the real issues rather than put parents in jail
Equal Education have however welcomed the amendment regarding school language policy. This amendment would see the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and Heads of Departments (HOD) have increased oversight of school language policies.
This is vitally important, as language policies have previously been used to racially discriminate against learns and exclude learners living in a particular area from accessing a school.
“We believe the BELA bill is an important first step. We also do want to the BELA bill and this is one of the amendments that we are asking for, to clearly state in unequivocal terms that no learner can be refused access to school within their area based and language policies” said Borman.
They added that HOD’s and the DBE must also have greater access to the language requests from applicants applying at schools and not just the language requests from individuals already attending the school.
Borman explained ,“We are seeing a number of changes that we are pleased about but we are wanting to make sure that this first step made by the BELA Bill is really strengthened by provisions which clearly state the intention”.
They added that it is important for parents and learners to understand their rights under the BELA bill and constitution. This will allow for parents to express their concerns and ensure their voices are heard during the public hearings process.
