Civil society groups Afri-Forum and Solidarity have intensified their resistance to the recently enacted Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill.
Story Summary:
- The Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill faces strong opposition from groups like Afri-Forum, citing concerns over its impact on Afrikaans-speaking schools.
- Afri-Forum has threatened court action, arguing that parts of the Bill undermine cultural rights and parental influence in school governance.
- The BELA Bill’s key provisions aim to standardise school admissions and language policies while ensuring greater state oversight.
Afri-Forum threatens court action if BELA Bill is not halted
On 13 September 2024, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the bill into law as Act No. 32 of 2024, despite growing protests.
The most contentious clauses relate to school admissions and language policy, with Afri-Forum claiming the Bill’s measures are biased against Afrikaans-speaking institutions.
Afri-Forum CEO Kallie Kriel expressed concerns that the Bill could marginalise Afrikaans children, saying:
“If you target Afrikaans schools, you are targeting the existence of a cultural community.”
The campaign, supported by political parties like the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Freedom Front Plus (FF+), led to a protest march in Pretoria on Reconciliation Road, on Tuesday.
Here, Afri-Forum representatives handed a memorandum of demands to government officials, warning that failure to address their concerns would result in legal action.
DA leader John Steenhuisen noted that compromise is still possible if the government agrees to adjustments to clauses affecting mother-tongue education, an issue widely regarded as a cornerstone of South Africa’s multilingual educational approach.
The BELA Bill, explained in simple terms
The BELA Bill, introduced to update the South African Schools Act of 1996, seeks to address several gaps in educational governance.
It aims to provide clearer state authority over school admissions, language policies, and governance structures to create a more unified education system.
One of the Bill’s major changes is making Grade R compulsory for children entering primary school, which encourages early learning.
Another core aspect involves language and admissions policies that emphasise state input: previously, these decisions were largely in the hands of School Governing Bodies (SGBs).
The Bill gives provincial education heads the final say on school admission policies, particularly where these might exclude learners based on language.
The BELA Bill also mandates that schools with a single language of instruction consider adopting additional languages when feasible, prioritising the resources needed for multilingual education.
This emphasis on broad accessibility and standardisation underlies the Bill’s intent to promote inclusivity, especially for schools in diverse communities.
The BELA Bill further proposes measures to help schools avoid costly legal battles by encouraging mediation between SGBs and the Department of Education to resolve disputes related to school governance.
Will the Bill kill Afrikaans?
One of the strongest criticisms from Afri-Forum and other Afrikaans advocacy groups is that the BELA Bill could lead to a decline in Afrikaans-language education.
Under the new provisions, SGBs will have to consult with provincial education departments on language policies, which some Afrikaans-speaking communities fear will compromise their ability to maintain single-medium Afrikaans schools.
The government, however, has argued that the Bill does not target any language specifically but rather encourages inclusivity.
According to proponents, the language policy updates aim to ensure that language does not become a barrier to education, especially in diverse regions.
The state has maintained that the Bill’s requirement for multilingual education will only apply where it is feasible and accompanied by the necessary resources, including trained teachers and language materials.
