The clause which has caused the most controversy is the one concerning strengthening government oversight over language and admission policies.
This is a sensitive topic relating to racial integration.
The previous ANC government argued that language and other admission criteria were being used to “derail access to schools [for] the majority of learners”.
Even though apartheid – a system of legally enforced racism – ended more than three decades ago, the racial divide it created still persists in some areas of education.
Afrikaans is not specifically mentioned in the legislation, but the ANC says that some children are being excluded from schools where the language of the white-minority Afrikaners is used as the medium of instruction.
The DA has defended the right of school governing bodies to determine their language policies, citing the constitution and the importance and protection of learning in one’s mother-tongue.
The strongest opposition has come from the Afrikaans-speaking community.
Civil rights group AfriForum has described the bill as an attack against Afrikaans education and has said it remains committed to opposing the legislation as “it poses a threat to the continued existence of Afrikaans schools and quality education”.
The Freedom Front Plus – another one of the 10 parties in the coalition government and seen as representing the interests of Afrikaners – is also opposed to Bela. It called it “ill-conceived”, saying it would “cause needless uncertainty and disputes about clearly established rights and responsibilities related to Basic Education”.
Some are also concerned about the reforms to home schooling. There are currently many unregulated schools popular with the middle classes because of the poor state of government schools.
These are allowed to continue through a loophole in the current law where the students are registered as “home learners” and the teachers offer “tuition”. But through the Bela bill, the government wants to close the loophole and ensure they are regulated like state schools.
Source link
