MPs are expected on Tuesday to begin their clause-by-clause deliberations on the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill, which contains wide-ranging reforms of legislation governing schools and teachers.
Among its most controversial provisions are new powers for provincial heads of education, allowing them to override school governing bodies’ language and admission policies, prison terms of up to 12 months for parents whose children do not attend school, and tighter regulation of home schooling.
It also provides that members of a school governing body declare their financial interests and it prohibits teachers from doing business with the state.
DA basic education spokesperson Baxolile Nodada said that the MPs on the basic education portfolio committee are set to adopt a report on the key issues that were raised during public consultation on the bill tabled last week. Nodada said that it is not clear how MPs are expected to weight the input with its tens of thousands of written submissions.
Public comments
The committee received oral submissions in parliament in November 2022 from 39 parties, including unions, civil society organisations, home schooling bodies and political parties, and a further 1,586 oral submissions during provincial public hearings conducted between February and June 2023. Its call for public comment attracted almost 33,000 written submissions, about half of which were emailed, according to the report.
Of the 26,593 written submissions that were processed, 55% supported the bill, 38% rejected the bill, 3.9% gave partial support and 1% were undeclared.
During the provincial public hearings 46% of speakers supported the bill, 42% opposed it, 7% expressed partial support, and 5% did not indicate whether they were for or against it, the report concluded. Nodada said he is concerned that the committee has yet to receive input from parliament’s legal advisers, despite the constitutional issues thrown up by the bill, such as its proposals that the provincial head of education would have the final say on school admission and language policies.
Nor have MPs been provided with the financial implications of the bill, which proposes extending compulsory schooling from grade 1 to grade R, said Nodada. The bill fails to address the education crisis, he said. “While SA public schools are plagued by myriad problems, none of them is addressed in the proposed amendments; not the lack of safe and sanitary infrastructure, overcrowded classrooms, nor the high dropout rates.
“Curriculum adjustments to allow for quality education and ensuring that learners have foundational literacy and numeracy skills are not addressed,” Nodada said.
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