The right of a child to refuse religious instruction=20 enshrined in the new Gauteng Education Bill has=20 caused an outcry, reports Gavin du Venage
The Gauteng Education Bill has come under attack from=20 Jewish, Muslim and Christian schools who fear it will=20 outlaw their right to provide religious teaching.
Muslim schools have also objected to a clause that=20 forbids corporal punishment, a stipulation that=20 directly contradicts the Koran.
The Bill was recently released for public comment by=20 Gauteng Education Minister Mary Metcalfe and has been=20 the subject of public hearings this week. Broadly, it=20 aims to do away with racial discrimination and removes=20 much of the authority of school governing bodies to set=20 admission criteria.
The Muslim community in particular has come out against=20 the Bill. Earlier this week Ebrahim Patel, speaking on=20 behalf of the Association of Muslim Schools, attacked a=20 number of sections in the Bill.
Patel said it would be illegal in terms of Islamic law=20 for teachers not to punish recalcitrant children. Patel=20 said in his submission that: “The principle of corporal=20 punishment is enshrined in Islam”.
Patel said that while it was readily acceptable that=20 other schools banned corporal punishment, to force=20 Muslim schools to do so would be to force them to=20 disobey the Koran, a course they could not follow.
Patel also objected to a clause which allows pupils to=20 refuse religious instructions, a concern shared by the=20 Jewish Board of Education. Essentially, the clause=20 allows a child to refuse any religious instruction.=20 Parents at religious schools have objected to this=20 clause as they maintain they select such institutions=20 on grounds of their religious teaching.
Patel says that the Muslim community resents the manner=20 in which the Bill disregards religious values. The=20 Muslim community supported the ANC in the national=20 elections last year, but not in order to have its=20 cultural values diluted, he adds.
Metcalfe is apparently committed to this clause.=20 Department sources say she sticks to the “cradle to=20 grave” interpretation of the Constitution. A child=20 should have the same rights as an adult and have the=20 right to refuse religious indoctrination. “We asked=20 Mary if this was a mistake but she was adamant that the=20 clause was justified,” says a departmental official.
The Bill does provide a remedy in that it limits what=20 it calls the rights of a learner if circumstances are=20 appropriate, but parents feel this does not go far=20
Gauteng education committee chairman Juli Kilian says=20 the Bill will have to balance a commitment to a free=20 and open society with religious autonomy. She says=20 objections have also been made by Soweto schools.
‘Many Soweto teachers have a religious background. They=20 feel they should be allowed to carry out religious=20 instruction without interference,” she says.
Although Jewish schools are mostly private and=20 therefore given more autonomy under the Bill, they have=20 also strongly opposed certain clauses. A chief=20 complaint is the section that deals with equal access=20 to schools. Theoretically, a pupil who could afford=20 private school fees should not be refused a place=20 simply because he or she is not Jewish.
Jewish Board of Education director Meish Zimerman said=20 in his submission that while its affiliates apply=20 strict admission criteria, these were not=20
“We have legitimate admissions policies which are not=20 discriminatory but which would preclude any pupil=20 having equal access to such schools,” Zimerman says.
Schools such as King David in Johannesburg may be=20 private, but were established as community schools with=20 the express purpose of advancing Jewish education=20 requirements, he says.
Thus a child of a live-in domestic who lives near a=20 Jewish school could be admitted, but would be obliged=20 to follow a Jewish curriculum, including religious=20
Kilian says the number of non-political submissions=20 have taken the committee by surprise. “It is a positive=20 sign that this debate has devolved beyond the political=20 parties. We all have particular agendas which are=20 fairly predictable and these outside views bring a=20 freshness to the debate,” she says.
Education ministry representative Nkoana Maloka says=20 the ministry will wait until public submissions have=20 been completed before responding. “We are going to=20 receive all submissions and then hand them and the Bill=20 for our legal people to look at,” he says.