School governing bodies remain the determining authority of a public school’s language and admission policies. The Bela amendments will not result in sudden or drastic changes to language and admission practices. Comments in this regard earlier this week in the parliamentary portfolio committee on basic education are no reason for concern, says the school governing body organisation FEDSAS.

          The Minister of Basic Education, Ms Siviwe Gwarube, and her department reported to the committee on Tuesday. The Department’s Chief Director of Planning and Implementation Support, Mr James Ndlebe told MPs that “former Model C schools” will be prioritised for the implementation of the Bela Act’s controversial language and admission clauses. 

          “Mr Ndlebe’s comments were unfortunate, unnecessary and created confusion and panic. FEDSAS denounces the manner in which the comments was made as it adds more tension to an already sensitive environment,” says Dr Juané van der Merwe-Mocke, Deputy CEO of FEDSAS. She says the responsible approach would be to wait for the final regulations on admission and school capacity as these would constitute the official and binding framework.

          “The Schools’ Act places an obligation on all schools to review their language and admission policies from time to time – this does not necessarily imply change. Neither does the law require policies to be submitted for approval; it should only be available for consideration. SGBs retain full authority to determine these policies. The only exception is that certain constitutional factors should be considered as part of a review. However, these factors have long been part of case law and best practice.”

          Van der Merwe-Mocke says the term “former Model C schools” often used by education role-players, activist organisations and politicians is problematic.

          “Model C schools were phased out more than 30 years ago. However, it continues to exist as a type of umbrella term mostly used to refer to Afrikaans single-medium schools despite the fact that many current Afrikaans schools did not even exist during the time of Model C schools. It is also important to note that some Afrikaans schools were Model B schools at the time.”

          Van der Merwe-Mocke says the perspective changes significantly when terms such as “functional” and “dysfunctional” schools are used. “In reality it is often the case that functional schools are the target for cheap politics as these schools reach capacity first. Parents apply for admission at these schools as they want the best for their children.”

          What would the implications have been if Mr Ndlebe had said “functional schools will be prioritised for the implementation of the Bela Act’s language and admissions clauses”? 

          “Former Model C schools” is political posturing; “functional schools” points to a flawed education system as it implies that there also “dysfunctional schools”.

          Van der Merwe-Mocke warns that the real crisis in the education system is not functional schools’ language and admission policies.

          “This is used to direct the attention away from the serious deficiencies in the public education system. Examples include the more than 29 000 vacant posts, the millions that provincial education departments had to pay back to Treasury because the money was simply not spent, the poor planning and contempt of statutory obligations that resulted in some no-fee schools having to rely on about R6 per learner per day.”

          According to Van der Merwe-Mocke, any actions by provincial education HODs are still administrative actions that are subject to the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act. "This implies that all decisions must be reasonable, lawful and procedurally fair. These principles offer stability even when political statements create a different impression.”

          FEDSAS remains open to responsible conversations about education improvements as long as it takes place within the legal framework and does not undermine schools’ legal authority.

          “However, we want to reassure school communities that we will not tolerate unlawful actions by provincial education departments and education officials. Whether this takes the form of interference with language and admission or ill-considered post provisioning norms, FEDSAS will not hesitate to consider legal action where necessary.”