DA to take the fight against basic education bill all the way to ConCourt

DA MP Baxolile Nodada says the party is building the “biggest education court case” ever seen in the country to challenge the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill.

Speaking during a picket outside parliament on Thursday, addressed by civil society leaders, he assured supporters the party was willing to fight the bill all the way to the Constitutional Court.

Should it be passed, critics argue, it would allow the heads of provincial education departments to make final decisions on school language and admission policies, thus giving school governing bodies less of a say in such affairs.

Nodada said, “Our aim is to co-ordinate and unite all of these various legal challenges into the biggest education court case South Africa has ever seen.

“We will shortly send formal letters to all organisations that intend to challenge the Bela Bill in court, inviting them to pool resources and work together to mount the strongest possible court challenge,” said Nodada. 

The party says though it supports educational reform it is against “disempowering schools and communities” and felt the bill did not address challenges affecting the quality of the country's schooling system, such as: 

• overcrowding 

• curriculum failures 

• poor literacy and numeracy rates 

• dropouts 

• unsafe and unsanitary education facilities 

• poor  teaching 

• lack of resources 

• language and admission policies.

DA Federal Council chair Helen Zille asked parents to get involved in governing bodies and to hold schools accountable for the quality of education. 

The first draft of the bill was in 2017, and a new version was presented to parliament last year with the aims of amending the South African Schools Act of 1996 and the Employment of Educators Acts of 1998  to align the growth of education.

Other changes that have sparked concern include the punishment for parents who fail to enrol their children in Grade R (12 months' jail time is on the table), as well as the requirement that all home schoolers register, confirmation of the ban on corporal punishment and sale of alcohol on school premises.

“We also find it very problematic that the extensive public participation processes were nothing more than expensive box-ticking exercises,” said Nodada. “Had it not been for the DA, thousands of email submissions would have remained unanalysed. The parliamentary portfolio committee on basic education’s ANC majority completely disregarded the bulk of submissions that rejected the Bela Bill and voiced concerns regarding its implementation,” added Nodada. 

Other political parties such as the VF Plus (Freedom Front Plus) and African Christian Democratic Party (ADCP) were present at the protest. 

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