‘There’s no attack on Afrikaans’: Motshekga says BELA Bill gives every child access to education

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga on Sunday refuted claims the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill is an attack on Afrikaans schools.

This after opposition parties and some civil society organisations have raised concerns the Bill is unconstitutional.

Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill 

In September, the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education adopted the BELA Bill.

Among the proposals adopted in the Bill is a public school’s language policy must be approved by the provincial education department.

The policy must also reflect the language of the community the school is located in.

It also states the “head of department, after consultation with the governing body of the school, has the final authority to admit a learner to a public school”.

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Motshekga said the Bill is meant for the “protection of every child to have access to education” and is not an attack on Afrikaans.

“You can’t have a situation where you say government has to give full access to schooling as law, and then say there is a governing body has the right to say who gets admitted or not.”

‘We’re past that stage now’

The minister said she was involved in the drafting of the basic education laws at the dawn of democracy. During that time, Motshekga said compromises were made with schools about how they ran them and what language they used.

“We’re past that stage now,” she said.

“We’ve had situations where black kids cannot go to a school in front of their gate because powers have been given to governing bodies.”

Motshekga said when she tries to intervene and get a child admitted to a particular school, governing bodies say she is breaking the law and threatens to take her to court.

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Watch: Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga’s briefing

Opposition to BELA Bill

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has previously said its concerns about the BELA Bill have been ignored. It also said its questions about “the wording of clauses, the impact of clauses on schools and communities, and the feasibility of the planned centralisation remain unanswered”.

“The BELA Bill still disempowers school governing bodies (SGBs) from determining their own admission and language policies and places final authority in the hands of the heads of provincial departments, making them both players and referees who could abuse this power to further destroy quality education,” said DA MP Baxolile Nodada.

He added the Bill should instead focus on overcrowded classrooms, dangerous infrastructure and the quality of teaching.

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Other proposals in the BELA Bill include:

• Making Grade R the new compulsory school-starting age,
• Introducing penalties for parents who do not ensure their children are in school, and
• Confirming corporal punishment is not allowed at schools.