Announced back in 2017, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) is planning on making some adjustments to South Africa's laws surrounding education which will affect learners, teachers and parents/caregivers. Now, after four years of discussion and debate, the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill is finally being tabled.
The Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill aims to provide updated amendments to certain sections of the South African Schools Act, including stern rules around attendance, admissions and language policies.
The Bill has proposed making Grade R compulsory, essentially starting the entry into the education world from a younger age. Typically, learners begin their academic careers from Grade 1, in the year they turn seven. Previously, a learner could enter into Grade R at the minimum age of four-years-old and turn five or older by June 30th the following year.
A parent or caregiver can still choose to enroll their child into school at a younger age if they wish, despite the proposed changes to the starting age.
School attendance is now also becoming mandatory, meaning every South African child must be enrolled in a school to receive an education. With this, the Bill proposes that the original sentence for not enrolling a child/preventing a child from attending school is to be doubled from six months to twelve months, as well as potentially receiving a fine in addition to jail time.
Elijah Mhlanga, spokesperson for the DBE, says increasing the sentence of those preventing children from entering schools is important because "children must go to school. In terms of the Constitution, they have a right to education and that right must not be interfered with."
An advocacy body for quality and equality in education has raised some red flags surrounding some of the Bill's proposed changes.
"We feel that this will not tackle some of the reasons why children are staying away from school, such as poverty; instead this amendment makes parents or caregivers vulnerable to criminal charges against them and will perpetuate the circumstances that prevent learners from attending school in the first place."
The advocacy body's spokesperson went on to point out how this change will predominantly have an impact on women who are often the primary caregivers in South Africa.
The country's Language and Admissions Policies are also under review. The Language Policy originally states that schools must choose a language/languages of learning and teaching, and the Admissions Policy details the school's entry requirements that learners and parents should meet when gaining admission into a school.
The BELA Bill now proposes that the final say surrounding the language and admissions of schools be granted to the Provincial heads of the department. There have been a few objections to this proposed change, with those against it arguing that this will use up the power School Governing Bodies (SGBs) hold, and will also discriminate against the use of language.
Mhlanga says the main objective of the bill is to align the powers of the SGBs with the policies of the department.
“We have sought to make the changes because we want to strengthen governance, fix the challenges that we have been seeing at schools. But also review the rules of the School Governing Bodies because there have been abuses in certain instances by SGBs and we felt the need to make changes that will strengthen governance in schools and streamline the functioning of schools. So, there is no taking of power from the SGBs but at the same time, you cannot allow a situation where the power of the SGBs is absolute. It can’t be.”
However, the National Association of School Governing Bodies disagrees with those raising concerns, saying that the idea of the SGBs power being taken away is false, using the Soweto Uprising of 1976 as an example of what happens when language is used to segregate and control society.
Other proposed changes to the BELA Bill include adjustments to homeschooling, initiation practices, corporal punishment, absenteeism, governing body disclosures and business with the state.
Parliament has extended the deadline of public submissions on the Bill to 15 August, 2022.
