The ANC Women's League wants all private schools to teach the same curriculum that is on offer at South Africa's 24000 public schools - and Gauteng's MEC for education wants to scrap Afrikaans in township schools. These calls come on the back of other radical proposals seeking to curtail the powers of governing bodies.The women's league treasurer-general, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, said private schools should not be running "a parallel education system"."There should be respect of where we come from. It can't be a preserve of the haves."Official figures show that more than 538000 pupils attended 1681 private schools last year.Nkoana-Mashabane said that the exorbitant fees charged at private schools meant most children were excluded.story_article_left1At a league event earlier this month, many women raised concerns about the challenges they faced with private school education and asked the ruling party to look into it."The observation from women when we met is that the fee situation is out of reach for many parents and much more expensive than university."That can't be right. We will engage in a dialogue with these institutions and the Department of Education," Nkoana-Mashabane said.The women's league said it would also lobby the Department of Basic Education to ensure that what is taught at private schools is in line with the history of South Africa and in line with the rest of the country's curriculum."What private schools teach should take cognisance of the fact that we have had apartheid in this country and that we haven't even started touching transformation. We must ensure that the real history of our country is taught in all our schools."She was backed by Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, who said: "Private schools are part of the education system and can't operate outside it. That period of just giving them licences and leaving them alone is gone."But Lebogang Montjane, executive director of the Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa, which has 718 member schools in the country - and another 47 members in neighbouring states - said the vast majority of private schools followed the national curriculum which was accredited by Umalusi.More than 95% of the association's member schools followed the department's curriculum and assessment policy statements, Montjane said.He said a large number of schools followed the Cambridge curriculum while others followed the international baccalaureate. No more than 10 schools followed the Waldorf curriculum.Montjane said that at least 235 of the association's member schools charged fees of between R12300 and R35799."So the notion that independent schools are very expensive does not add up," he said.Asked about a standardised system across private and state schools, single parent Tia Mthethwa, whose 11-year-old daughter attends St Teresa's Mercy School in Rosebank, Johannesburg, said: "No thanks, to being equal."She said she would not entrust her child's education to the government."They fail to deliver school books where needed and there are always so many loopholes with their system and yet no one is ever held accountable."With private schools, accountability is at the helm. I am paying all this money for results.story_article_right2"It's expensive, but I am paying for more than just education - ethics, etiquette, social development and other things," said Mthethwa.Comedian and businessman David Kau, whose son is in Grade R at Beaulieu Preparatory School in Kyalami, said the proposal was "not realistic"."A private school is like a private business ... government can't dictate to a private business what they must do, when and how."The customers choose to go to the private business because of the quality of what they get in return," he said."They also cannot dictate to parents the kind of education they should get for their children. This will result in moving their kids to other schools, if not out the country."Meanwhile, Lesufi said he intended to lobby the ANC's national general council "very hard" to commit to phasing out Afrikaans at township schools."I hope the conference will agree with us ... because the painful aspect of it is that other people who use Afrikaans as their mother tongue are not willing to learn our languages."Why should other people be forced to learn their language?"- Additional reporting Prega Govender, Gabi Mbele, Aarti J Narsee and Bongani Mthethwa..