Solidarity rejects Amendment Bill at public hearing
5 May 2023
Solidarity today rejected the proposed Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill (BELA Bill) during a public hearing and expressed its disgruntlement towards the government. This step in the public participation process follows the parliamentary presentations of November 2022 in which Solidarity also participated.
Solidarity argues that the proposed Amendment Bill in its current format will result in the centralisation of education in South Africa implying disregarding the power of governing bodies in schools. Language and admissions policies are influenced by this, which makes Afrikaans schools a direct target of this lust for power.
“Daily we hear and see the open hostility towards Afrikaans schools and their right to exist. There is an active attack against mother tongue education even if this attack holds negative consequences for innocent children,” Johnell van Vollenhoven, policy analyst at the Solidarity Research Institute said. “This Amendment Bill seeks to take the power from parents and governing bodies. Through this they can freely implement their ideology as part of daily education in our schools and turn every Afrikaans school into an English school within just a few years.”
According to Solidarity the BELA Bill seeks to return to the outdated school model. The government wants to reduce the role of the community and especially governing bodies and let all power revolve upwards. This change is contrary to objective of the South African Schools Act (SASA) that communities and parents, through governing bodies, can manage schools in the best interest of the learners.