(John McCann/M&G)
South African basic education legislation has recently taken an interesting, transformation agenda following the signing of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa. But clauses 4 and 5, which consider language and admission policies, are highly contested.
Education was central in the apartheid states mandate to oppress and further marginalise the black population. The Bantu Education Act was one of the legislative tools which institutionalised racism in education, creating a discrepancy in terms of access to quality education with black people at the periphery. It regulated admissions and funding allocation, providing fewer resources for black education therefore impacting the access to quality education, this included racialised policies that separated schools along racial lines, preventing black children from attending white schools, same applied in Higher education institutions. The question of language — Afrikaans, alongside English, was mandated as the medium of instruction — led to the 1976 protests that started in Soweto and spread countrywide.
Although South Africa has transitioned to a democratic state and has overcome apartheid, there are still schools that have not transformed particularly with regard to language and admission. Some children are denied access to schools because of their language policies. And language is one of the barriers to learning in the classroom is language, which creates difficulties with communication, affecting the ability of children and teachers to be productive. These are inevitable problems in a lingually diverse society with limiting legislation regarding language policy in schools.
The Bela Act aims to amend certain sections of the South African Schools Act by making provisions for the revision of certain admission and language policies. It details processes that should be followed in determining language and admission policies, introducing the adoption of more than one medium of instruction in a school, and gives the head of department the final decision-making power in this regard. Formerly the authority to decide on admission requirements, language policy and code of conduct policies rested with the school governing body. This has affected education for certain groups as well as failed to take into account South Africa’s diverse society.
The Bela Act makes reference to cases that have come before the court in recent years, which have exposed the existence of discrimination in admission and language policies in schools.
Criticism of the Act has come from various political parties including the Democratic Alliance and ActionSA, as well as organisations such as AfriForum, Solidarity and the Cape Forum. The criticisms from these organisations include the apparent unconstitutionality of the Act, that school governance bodies are being undermined and, in once case, calling the Act “school capture”.
The reality is that South Africa needs an Act of this nature in its basic education sector. In a country with a history of exclusion based on race and language, we cannot afford to still reserve the power to make decisions that affect access to education for broader society to lie within small groups without much regulation from the government.
The Bela Act ensures the protection of the rights of the broader population of learners in relation to language and education, as provided by the Constitution in section 29 (2).
The Act is not an attack on certain groups; it is rather about inclusion and represents the diversity of South African society. It is about creating safe schools for children in all religions, cultures, economic backgrounds and languages. It is important that language policies of schools in small towns be representative of the demographics surrounding those schools. It is important for middle-class black and brown families who afford better education for their children and can afford to do so to not be stopped and the children denied access to better education because of restrictive admission policies.
It is an Act that should be accepted with warmth, particularly clause 4 and 5, because they represent a continuation of the transformation agenda that started when South Africa became a democracy.
If these clauses are rejected, how long will learners and parents be victims of racism and classism in school policies?
This Act should not be used as a tool by political interests that do not represent the true desires of the South African population. This should not be a battle about power or gaining larger constituencies but one about the work towards access to equitable education for all.
Siphesihle Mbhele is an associate researcher at the Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies, He is a youth and social justice activist and the founder and co-host of Activating Youth Activism Podcast.