Big changes for South African schools – these are the laws that are being accepted and rejected

The basic education portfolio committee has summarised the feedback received so far on proposed changes to South Africa’s school laws.

The committee summarised the main points of approval and opposition to the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill (BELA), which aims to make a slew of changes to South African schools, in a presentation this week (6 December).

In general, the laws propose significant changes to the compulsory starting age for children in South Africa, as well as clarifying and formalising aspects of home education and school financial administration in the country.

The bill also includes highly contentious proposals such as giving the government final say over school language policies and allowing schools to sell alcohol at after-hours, non-school related activities.

According to the portfolio committee, only 7,700 of the 18,000 written submissions on the bill have been processed thus far, with the reading and verification of submissions still in progress.

In a sample of 500 submissions, the overwhelming majority – 76% – were opposed to the bill. However, the committee stated that this is a “moving target” and that a clearer picture will emerge once all submissions have been processed.

Meanwhile, between November 8 and 29, the committee held public hearings at which 31 presentations from education stakeholders made their perspectives known.

Coverage of these presentations revealed a mixed bag of reactions, with most groups and institutions expressing disapproval of the changes in general – though some specifics were supported.

According to the committee, the proposed laws can be divided into three categories based on the feedback received thus far: supported, objected to, and partially accepted.

The following are the main points of view on the laws:

Supported