Solidarity criticises BELA Amendment Bill in Parliament

22 November 2022

Solidarity today harshly criticised the controversial Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill (the BELA Amendment Bill) in its submission to a session of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education held in Parliament in Cape Town today. 
 
According to Solidarity, the effect of this Amendment Bill would be that governing bodies would be stripped of their rights and that more powers would be placed in the hands of the state, even to the extent of being able to change a school’s language of instruction. Solidarity is of the opinion that through this Amendment Bill the state wants to strip governing bodies (in other words the parents) of their rights, putting those in the hands of politicians.
 
“The agenda is clear when it comes to admission and language – the government wants to decide for us what is good for our children. What is of particular concern is that some of the amendments have a direct and restrictive impact on the governing of schools and the rights of governing bodies. Among other things, the proposed amendments make provision for admission and language policies to be subject to approval by the head of the education department. As a result, a key function is taken from governing bodies,” Johnell van Vollenhoven, a policy analyst at the Solidarity Research Institute (SRI) said.
 
Solidarity contends that the eventual acceptance of the BELA Amendment Bill would mean that, in practice, public schools would again become state schools where a community would have almost no input in the education of its children and the governing of its school.
 
“This proposed legislation is in direct conflict with the objectives of South Africa's democracy. The intention of the Constitution is precisely that public schools should function with greater autonomy and that communities should take responsibility for the management of these schools,” Van Vollenhoven explained. “The government has proven itself incompetent in that it is not fulfilling its obligations by building enough schools or making resources and support available to schools. Instead of fulfilling these responsibilities, the government wants to deprive parents and governing bodies of their rights in order to exercise more control over schools so that functional schools can be captured.”
 
According to Solidarity, this submission is only the beginning of a huge battle lying ahead, and although the organisation will participate in all other public participation processes, it will not hesitate to approach the courts if the government should try to steamroller the legislation through Parliament without paying proper attention to the outcomes of the public participation process
 
“We will not stand by while the Department of Basic Education changes public schools into state schools. We will participate fully in every available process and event and even thereafter, if necessary. We will not give up on the education of our children for the sake of the ideology of politicians. We will stand firm and at all costs protect our schools and teachers from the power-hungry obsession of the state. In South Africa we need less state in our schools, not more,” Van Vollenhoven concluded.

Issued by Johnell van Vollenhoven, Policy Analyst, 22 November 2022