PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO GAUTENG PUBLIC SCHOOL REGULATIONS ERODE TRUST AT THE COST OF ACCESS TO BASIC EDUCATION
Following the Pretoria High Court judgment in the Overvaal High School (Overvaal) matter and the subsequent violent protests that erupted, it is understandable that little trust exists between School Governing Bodies (SGBs) of public schools and the Gauteng Education Department. In January 2018, the Pretoria High Court found that the Gauteng Education Department arbitrarily instructed Overvaal, a single-medium Afrikaans school, to accept 55 English learners, without first considering the available capacity at surrounding English schools. The Constitutional Court, on the same grounds, refused the Gauteng Education Department’s leave to appeal the Overvaal High Court judgment.
SGBs’ distrust recently flared up again with the publication of draft amendments to the regulations relating to the admission of learners to public schools in Gauteng (draft amendment regulations). The draft amendment regulations, among others, propose three important amendments. The first relates to the admission policies by SGBs, the second to the determination of feeder zones by the Head of the Gauteng Education Department (HOD) and lastly, the capacity assessment of public schools.
The draft amendment regulations should be viewed against the school system’s partnership model, provided for in the South African Schools Act (the Schools Act). The aim of the partnership model is to co-operatively ensure the constitutional right to basic education is fulfilled. This aim can only be achieved if all three levels (national, provincial and the SGBs) fulfil their specific functions and if there is a uniform understanding on the application of determinative criteria.
At national level, the Minister of Basic Education (the Minister) is obliged to publish uniform norms and standards for public schools in terms of the Schools Act. The uniform norms and standards provide guidance to both provincial education departments and SGBs in fulfilling their distinct duties.
At provincial level, the provincial education department must (together with the HOD) establish public schools and ensure each learner is placed at a school. The last level, the governing body of a public school, consists of parents and community members. The SGB, having personal knowledge of a school, is responsible for the school’s governance, which includes determination of the school’s admission and language policies. It is specifically with learner enrolment disputes in this regard that many legal disputes have arisen.