The DA in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has voted against the BELA Bill – an ANC piece of legislation that will lead to a decline in education standards in the province while disempowering schools and placing control in the wrong hands.
Voting, which took place yesterday during a provincial Education portfolio committee, saw only the DA and IFP reject and oppose the Bill. The EFF vote was not recorded by the time the meeting ended while a vote on behalf of the minority parties was cast by the NFP member present, in favour of the Bill
The DA’s reservations over the Bill have been echoed by a large number of stakeholders, with just over 5 400 online submissions and an overwhelming majority rejecting the Bill. These email submissions continue to be received despite the closing date of 20 February.
Four different public hearings in KZN also saw the following results from oral submissions;
• A 97.4 % rejection in Ixopo
• AN 82.5% rejection in Dundee
• A 58% rejection in Phongola and;
• It was only in Mandeni where there was a 67% support for the Bill.
Submissions show that the Bill has largely been rejected due to clauses relating to home schooling, admission and language policies, proposed regulations on management of learner pregnancy and compulsory school attendance at age six.
The ANC must not downplay the fact that this Bill has been wholly objected to in KZN. Nor must it try to deny that – despite the many objections – it is still trying to bulldoze the Bill through.
The DA remains opposed to the BELA Bill for the following reasons;
• Admission Policies which disempower school governing bodies (SGBs) from determining school admission policies and centralise this responsibility to Heads of Provincial Departments (HODs) giving them excessive powers
• Language Policies that centralise school language policies to HODs, further disempowering SGBs and disenfranchising mother tongue education
• Centralisation of Power with the Bill deciding how SGBs operate and are elected and giving provincial Departments excessive veto authority
• Regulations on Homeschooling that seek to regulate the sector, giving the Minister wide-ranging powers to do so
• Unfunded, mandatory Grade R for all learners, without allocating the necessary funding and resources. 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.
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.
The DA in KZN will again vote against the BELA Bill when the final NCOP mandate is voted on in the provincial Legislature. The DA has every intention to challenge the proceedings and validity of the bill in court if it comes to that.
KZN’s people will have the opportunity to stop the BELA Bill from being fully implemented when they go to the polls on 29 May. Our province must be rescued from an ANC that is destroying our children’s futures.