The DA has written to parliament’s legal adviser seeking guidance on the financial implications of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill, which proposes extending compulsory schooling by a year to include grade R.
The controversial bill is before the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), which has completed public hearings and is expected to begin its line-by-line deliberations on the legislation next week.
One of the bill’s most contentious aspects is a proposal to strip school governing bodies of their power to determine admission and language policies and give provincial heads of education the final say on these emotive issues. But even some of its less contentious measures, such making grade R compulsory, have been questioned by the DA.
The party’s Delmaine Christians, who sits on the NCOP’s select committee on education & technology, sports, arts & culture, said she had written to parliamentary legal adviser Phumelele Ngema to ask for input on the legal framework governing unfunded mandates.
Implementation of the bill would require more than the R17.2bn that the basic education department said was needed to implement compulsory grade R. The Treasury had already stated the funding of the bill had not been budgeted for, she said.
The basic education department told the National Assembly’s portfolio committee on basic education last year that making grade R mandatory would require R4.77bn for extra staff and R12.43 for additional infrastructure.
At the time, opposition party MPs raised concerns that this was an unfunded mandate, questioning whether the government could afford the proposed policy change.
Christians expressed concern that the bill would be rushed through the NCOP when MPs returned from constituency work next week. The select committee had scheduled three meetings to wrap up its work on the bill, which did not provide enough time to do justice to the process, she said.
The ANC would likely use its majority to bulldoze the bill through the NCOP without due consideration, she said.
The committee is expected to discuss potential amendments to the bill at its meeting next week. If any material changes are made to the bill by the NCOP it will be referred back to the National Assembly for approval. If this process is not completed before parliament rises ahead of the May 29 general election, the bill will lapse, and the parliament of the next administration will determine whether to revive the legislation.
The DA’s chief whip in the NCOP, Cathlene Labuschagne, said that while the National Assembly had already risen, it could be recalled for a special sitting to vote on the bill.
The National Assembly has made some changes to the version of the bill submitted by the basic education department, including scrapping measures that would have permitted alcohol to be sold on school premises for fund-raising activities.
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