The BELA Bill has been met with harsh criticisim Photo DA
South Africa – The divisive Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill has passed its first legislative hurdle. On Tuesday, the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education agreed to and adopted the Bill, and it will now serve before the National Assembly. This is despite, just a few weeks ago, Parliament indicated the majority of public participation submissions rejected the BELA Bill.
But what is the BELA Bill? The BELA Bill amendments are not a single sweeping law. It is an attempt to harmonise and synchronise various pieces of legislation governing education in the country with the Constitution, so says Elizabeth Biney head of research at Equal Education.
The BELA Bill, in essence, is just a new piece of legislation that tackles administrative problems and not the real problems the education sector is facing. It does not address issues of infrastructure or learning material or safety concerns which is unfortunate seeing as it has been in the works for quite some time.
The BELA Bill and the concerns
Equal Education, an organisation dedicated to promoting fair and high-quality education, strongly emphasises the protection of students’ rights. Consequently, they fully support the proposition to ban corporal punishment in schools and advocate for penalties against individuals found guilty of such misconduct, as outlined in the Bill.
Some of the other proposals adopted in the Bill are, making Grade R the new compulsory school-starting age, governing bodies must submit the language policy of a public school and any amendment thereof to the Head of the Department for approval. The language policy must also take into consideration the language needs of the broader community, The Head of Department, after consultation with the governing body of the school, has the final authority to admit a learner to a public school.
However, there are proposals that were adopted in the Bill they do not agree with. Such as penalties for parents who do not ensure that their children are in school. While the organisation does not condone illegal activities, this is one aspect Biney believes is a “little bit excessive”.
“Those provisions could be balanced with a more humanistic and social understanding of some of the deep root causes that lead some parents or some caregivers to not meet the legal standard as required. There needs to be some sort of flexibility and assistance built into the system to make sure that these parents, who are in all intents and purposes struggling to provide quality education, are able to do so without the unnecessary or excessive pressure and criminalization. In deterrence it is creating an added burden on them.”
This proposal will severely impact marginalised communities and disadvantaged parents from rural areas. For Biney, this will only serve to further the inequality in the education sector.
Certain proposals faced significant hurdles, particularly the amendment related to the sale of alcohol on school premises after hours during events. This suggestion encountered strong resistance during the Bill’s public participation phase and was abandoned.
Criticism of the Bill
The BELA Bill has seen its fair share of criticism. The DA has labelled it as draconian and an attempt at forced compliance. In a strongly worded statement, the DA believes the Bill does not focus on the major issues the education sector is currently facing.
The Bill fails to tackle or provide remedies for issues such as unsafe learning environments, curriculum deficiencies, overcrowded classrooms, subpar teaching quality, and unhygienic conditions in schools. It represents a missed opportunity to make meaningful improvements in the education sector. It raises concerns that the Department of Education has dedicated considerable time to a Bill that does not enhance the educational standards students are currently receiving, indicating a lack of substantial progress in the sector.
One aspect of the BELA Bill that has sparked debate is the empowerment of education departments, particularly at the provincial level. The DA argued that this could lead to potential abuses of power.
“The BELA still disempowers school governing bodies (SGBs) from determining their own admission and language policies and places final authority in the hands of the Heads of Provincial Departments, making them both players and referees who could abuse this power to further destroy quality education.”
However, Biney does not see it as such. Instead, she believes the BELA Bill creates a balanced power structure.
“Education departments are the primary custodians when it comes to the provision of education services and so there needs to be a way that they can play a more significant role in the process. Not to say that everything must be left to them and that they’re the beginning and end of every decision … I think the Bill has tried to create a balancing act and while recognising the mandate of heads of departments and also the role that parents and community members, through the SGB model, play in managing and governing schools. We think there’s a fair balancing that is being introduced in this final Bill.”
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Implementation of the BELA Bill
It is well known South Africa has some of the best legislations around but it is less than stellar at implementing such legislations. Therefore, even the best piece of legislation has become useless. There is a worry that the same could happen with the BELA Bill. Even if the BELA Bill is made law, it all hinges on factors like political will and the commitment of those responsible for enforcement.
“We all have a duty in ensuring that implementation happens and happens properly. While there are certain provisions that are great and we welcome them, we want to see them happen. In reality, there are also conditions like political will, different agendas or ideas that departments who are mandated to implement these legislations might have that will hinder the smooth running of it. There’s a sense that we need to monitor it. We need to monitor implementations on the school level, district level, provincial level and national level to make sure that the rights of marginalised communities and learners are not being violated either by negligence, ignorance or just plain avoidance of these policies.”
Supporters like the ANC and EFF, who voted in favour of the Bill, argue that the Bill aims to modernise education practices, opposition parties such as Freedom Front Plus, ACDP, and DA, who voted against it, don’t share this perspective. The DA, in particular, emphasised in their statement that they will persist in their opposition, urging the Department to “focus on implementing successful strategies in struggling schools and lifting their standards” and not “scapegoating high achieving schools”.
