BELA – A threat to school governing bodies and home schooling families.

Parents and teachers had until Friday 10 November 17 to comment on the draft Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill which proposes to take away powers from School Governing Bodies (SGBs) and choice from home schooling families.
The Draft Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill was published in Government Gazette 41178. The proposed legislation aims to amend the South African Schools Act (SASA) and the Employment of Educators Act (EEA) in order to align them with developments in the education sector.
The draft bill also intends ensuring that systems of learning and excellence in education are put in place in a way that “respects, protects, promotes and fulfils the right to basic education” as enshrined in the constitution.
Cabinet approved the draft bill at the end of August 2017.
In the cabinet statement, the draft bill was described as “the outcome of the review of all basic education legislation with a view to enhancing organisational efficiency so as to improve school governance, leadership and accountability, transforming education services, and protecting vulnerable groups to ensure the well-being of learners.”
Sabinet sums it up like this: “The draft bill also seeks to amend the SASA in order to make it an offence for people to disrupt or interrupt any school activity or to hinder or obstruct any school in the performance of the school’s activities, provide the head of department with the final authority to admit a learner to a public school, provide for a governing body to submit the language policy of a public school to the head of department for approval, empower the basic education minister to appoint outside agencies or persons to advise the minister on matters relating to a national curriculum statement and a national process and procedures for the assessment of learner achievement, provide that a school’s code of conduct must take into account the diverse cultural beliefs and religious observances of the learners at the school, provide for the prohibition of liquor and prohibited substances on school premises, limit the powers of a governing body in regard to recommending candidates for appointment and provide for dispute resolution mechanisms in the event of any dispute between the head of department and a governing body.”
“Amendments are proposed to the EEA to, inter alia, provide for a limitation on the post levels for which the governing body may recommend candidates to the head of department, prohibit teachers from conducting business with the state, require teachers to disclose their financial interests to the head of department and extend the powers of the minister to make regulations on norms and standards for district staffing.”
Having had only eight days in which to work, Front National South Africa submitted a letter of objection against the proposed Amendment to the Schools Act, to the office of the Director General of Education on the 10th of November with 63 945 signatories on its petition on gopetition.
“We wish to object to this amendment as we are concerned about the extend to which it will take powers away from School Governing Bodies in terms of the appointment of educators, the determination of admission policies and the language of instruction in schools. Taken into account that such an amendment would put an immense financial burden of management on the Dept of Basic Education, we are further concerned that the Minister will be forced to recoup these expenses in ways that will inevitably impact negatively on the delivery of already strained quality education and on the already expensive upkeep and maintenance of facilities,” states their objection.
“The right of parents and communities to elect representatives to have an input in the education of children from the diversity of communities, cultures and ethnicities of our nation is a constitutional right and should not be impaired in any way whatsoever.”
“We therefore wish to emphasize that the proposed legislation, including the stipulations regarding the regulation of private tuition and home schooling, is not acceptable to the signatories of this document and we call on the department to withdraw the proposed amendment immediately.”
BELA is the most radical change in education law since the 1996 Schools Act, and could have far reaching effects.
The amendments to the bill would “increase your tax, raise school fees and increase costs and administration of home educating. Depending on provincial education policy, weakened financial viability of quality fee-paying public schools may lead to an exodus, retrenchment of teachers and thus loss of quality. Six hundred thousand school staff as well as their spouses & partners would have their privacy invaded by having to disclose their financial and ‘in kind’ interests. The state could over-rule governing bodies language policy, especially threatening the remaining 1 out of 20 single-medium Afrikaans schools. It would be more difficult for schools to rent facilities to churches and independent schools. This and loss of teacher appointment powers to SGBs would indirectly impact religion. Implementation powers are in the hands of provinces, likely making education a key issue in provincial elections and educational refugees moving province. The consultation process seems unequal, with some stakeholders consulted early and the rest have an unreasonable deadline. BELA is the most radical change in education law since the 1996 Schools Act, and would put education back in the control of the state, as it was in the apartheid era,” says Philip Rosenthal on Biznews.com

https://www.gopetition.com/petitions/petition-against-proposed-amendment-of-schools-act.html
http://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/basic-education-laws-amendment-bill-published-comment
http://www.sabinetlaw.co.za/education/articles/draft-basic-education-laws-amendment-bill-released-comment