{"id":773809,"date":"2024-05-28T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=773809"},"modified":"2024-05-28T16:11:00","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T14:11:00","slug":"alarm-bells-for-afrikaans-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/773809\/alarm-bells-for-afrikaans-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Alarm bells for Afrikaans schools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A legal battle is brewing over the future of Afrikaans schools in South Africa, which Solidarity warned is under threat because of a new education bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solidarity is concerned about the impact of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill on Afrikaans schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Assembly passed the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill on 26 October 2023 in Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basic Education Deputy Minister Dr Reginah Mhaule said the Bill reflects South Africa’s aspiration for a more inclusive, equitable and efficient basic education system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said there is a common misconception that the Bill erodes the autonomy of School Governing Bodies (SGBs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Bill aspires to harmonise the powers of the SGB with the directives of the relevant provincial Head of Department (HoD),\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhilst the SGB is initially tasked with setting a school’s language policy, the Bill emphasises that this authority is not unequivocal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt ascertains that such policies are adaptable, inclusive and congruent with the constitutional right to basic education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bill provides for intervention steps that the HoD should take when confronted with discriminatory language or admission policy without imposing his authority unlawfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf these policies remain unchecked, transformation will not be achieved in schools, and the mother-tongue instruction we pursue will never materialise,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChildren are still unable to access schools in their neighbourhood because they have been designated to serve a particular ethnic group.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bill requires school governing bodies to submit a public school’s language policy and any amendment to the head of department for approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The language policy of public schools must consider the language needs of the broader community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many Afrikaans schools raised concerns that the bill will force them to change their language policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They argue that the bill gives the heads of the Department of Education the final say on schools\u2019 language and admissions policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese amendments threaten the survival of the few single-medium Afrikaans schools that still exist,\u201d Afriforum said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, basic education chief director for planning and implementation support, James Ndlebe, said the Bill does not unfairly target Afrikaans schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solidarity threatens legal action<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Solidarity chief executive Dirk Hermann <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Solidarity chief executive Dirk Hermann hit back, saying the government will realise that it has underestimated the value of education for the Afrikaans community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trade union has finalised court documents against the proposed Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solidarity, AfriForum, and the Solidarity Support Centre for Schools (SCS) have joined forces in the legal battle against the Bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hermann said it was clear to the litigating parties that the government is now breaching an agreement on protecting language and culture, which was concluded in 1994.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSchools are the heart of the Afrikaans community, and the Constitution protects the Afrikaans community\u2019s access to education in their language,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He argued the BELA Bill gives the head of the Department of Basic Education the final authority over language and admission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hermann warned that Afrikaans communities will not accept the government\u2019s attempt to gain control of their schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are going to mobilise the larger Afrikaans community to protest the amended BELA Bill,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe battle begins now, and one of the concrete actions of this process will be litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Read: How much you need to earn to send your kids to private school in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A legal battle is brewing over the future of Afrikaans schools in South Africa, which Solidarity warns is under threat because of a new education bill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":653567,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[11258,19943,2741,19944],"class_list":["post-773809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-basic-education","tag-basic-education-laws-amendment-bela-bill","tag-dirk-hermann","tag-reginah-mhaule"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773809"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":773949,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773809\/revisions\/773949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}