The National Assembly has approved the contentious Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill, paving the way for the ANC government to tighten its oversight of public schools’ admission and language policies.
The bill still has to be considered by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), but SA’s second house of parliament is not expected to make any material changes before submitting it to the president for assent. The big question now hanging over the bill is whether the NCOP has enough time to process it before the current legislature’s term of office ends in May 2024.
The bill proposes that the admission and language policies set by school governing boards must be approved by the provincial head of education, a move the national education department says is intended to bring legislation in line with recent court rulings and ensure schools do not use these policies to exclude learners from nearby communities.
The bill also extends compulsory schooling by a year to include grade R, increases government oversight of home-schooling, bans corporal punishment, and proposes penalties of up to a year in jail for parents who fail to send their children to school.
The debate in the National Assembly on Thursday afternoon echoed the contestation that played out among MPs on parliament’s portfolio committee on basic education, with the DA, ACDP and FF+ flatly rejecting the bill, which was supported by the ANC, EFF, IFP and several smaller parties.
Deputy basic education minister Reginah Mhaule said the bill reflects the ANC’s aspirations for a more just and equitable education system. “While it has its critics, its objectives are grounded in the best interests of learners and educators,” she said.
Political parties opposed to the bill say its provisions for government oversight of school admission and language policies are discriminatory and undermine the provision of mother-tongue education.
The DA’s shadow basic education minister Baxolile Ndoda said the party is preparing to take the bill on legal review and will fight the legislation “all the way to the Constitutional Court”.
The DA will invite other stakeholders opposed to the bill to mount a joint legal challenge, he said. “Though the ANC might deny it, schools with a single language of learning will be targeted, despite that Pirls revealed that learners who completed the test in their mother tongue have better comprehension,” he said, referring to the Progress in International Ready Literacy Study which found 81% of grade 4s could not read for meaning in any language.
“While we support educational reform, we will not support a bill that disempowers schools, parents, and communities and fails to address a single one of the systemic challenges that impede quality education, like overcrowding, poor literacy and numeracy, dropouts, terrible school infrastructure, poor quality teaching, and lack of resources,” Ndoda said.
The ANC’s Bafuze Yabo said the bill’s provisions on language and admission policies are intended to combat racism. “We have school governing bodies that have attempted to preserve schools as bastions of Afrikaans, and don’t offer African languages ... We should not allow the systemic exclusion of the majority, or anyone, on the basis of language,” he said.
The ACDP’s Marie Sukers said the bill is “dead in the water” and will be struck down by the courts because parliament has not conducted a proper public consultation process.
The EFF, IFP, NFP and AIC joined the ANC in supporting the bill, which was passed by 223 votes to 83. The DA, FF+ and ACDP voted against it.
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