The DA in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has called for an urgent provincial Education portfolio committee meeting (view here) in connection with thousands of as yet unacknowledged public submissions around the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill.
The DA is opposed to this bill and has consistently and publicly voiced its concerns at the manner in which public hearings have been conducted in KZN, along with the failure to acknowledge strong public opposition.
Public participation cannot be excluded when introducing legislation and for it to be meaningful and proper, every reasonable and painstaking step must be taken to ensure maximum participation.
Given the KZN Legislature’s ongoing financial challenges, the DA does not believe that this has been the case when it comes to the processing of the BELA Bill in our province. This inadequacy makes the overall process unsound and open to rigorous legal challenge.
The DA is against the BELA Bill for the following reasons:
- Admission Policies: The Bill will disempower school governing bodies (SGBs) from determining school admission policies and centralise this responsibility to Heads of Provincial Departments (HODs), creating large administrative burdens for already dysfunctional departments and giving HODs excessive powers
- Language Policies: The Bill will centralise school language policies to HODs, further disempowering SGBs and disenfranchising mother tongue education, which is constitutionally recognised in Section 29(2) of our Constitution
- Centralisation of Power: The Bill will also decide how SGBs operate and how they are elected, with provincial Departments having excessive veto authority on local school decisions, as well as shorter appeal periods. HODs will have unchecked authorities, which is both legally flawed and detrimental to education outcomes
- Regulations on Homeschooling: The Bill also seeks to regulate homeschooling and gives the Minister wide-ranging powers to do so, despite failing to properly engage with the sector and understand their needs
- Unfunded, mandatory Grade R: The Bill mandates Grade R for all learners, without allocating the necessary funding and resources and will cost the DBE roughly R12 billion, which it currently does not have funding towards. This will see cuts from other already struggling programmes, including Learner Transport and the National School Nutrition Programmes (NSNP). The DA supports the wider inclusion of Grade R but this must be fully accounted for so that it does not affect other, crucial programmes.
The Bela Bill also fails to properly accommodate blended and online learning, or provide the appropriate mechanisms for learner registrations, inspections of premises, and assessments. Despite the country’s experience during the Covid-19 pandemic, the DBE is yet to learn how to integrate both in-person and online learning.
In stark contrast to the BELA Bill, the DA has workable, evidence-based proposals to improve basic learning. These include:
- Ensuring that learners receive 210 full teaching days, including two hours of reading and writing and an hour of Maths each day
- Improving quality and access to Grade R and providing the necessary resources and funding
- Improving STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) to ensure that learners are globally competitive and aligned
- Furthering internet access for schools for multifaceted learning
- Defending the right to constitutionally recognized mother tongue education, which has also shown to improve learner comprehension
- Testing teacher competence and ensuring quality teacher training
- Tailor-making interventions for schools, specific to core issues
- Reducing dropout rates to ensure every child receives basic education in a diversified curriculum that will allow them to acquire skills to participate in the economy and;
- Exploring alternative building models to eradicate dangerous infrastructure and build more classrooms and schools faster.
Should the BELA Bill become law, the DA will not hesitate to proceed with court action, primarily based on the violation of the Constitution and the Schools Act. We encourage KZN’s people to voice their objections in the crucial upcoming elections on 29 May – it is the best place to arrest this bill.
This ANC-run government has failed our education system and voting them out is our only option for the long-term future of our children. We must choose wisely and rescue the current generation of learners and the many who are yet to enter our education system.