Parliamentary committee snubs public concerns in adopting BELA Bill but ‘fight far from over’

The Basic Education Portfolio Committee adopted the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill on Tuesday after six members voted for its adoption, while the DA, ACDP and FF Plus voted against it.

Opponents of the bill accuse the state of pushing it through for ideological reasons, while ignoring the public participation process.

In a prayer update posted on Facebook, ChristianView Network’s Philip Rosenthal, who has been lobbying the committee to amend problematic clauses, says some issues were fixed but the bill is still unacceptable as “an unreasonable MP can use the bill to break good schools like they have broken Eskom”.

He says about R8m has been wasted on the public participation process which was not adequately deliberated upon.

“But the bill still has many hurdles to go through and we will fight for our children every step of the way. The bill must go now to the National assembly and I have asked opposition MPs to list the irregularities and petition the speaker to send it back to the committee to apply their minds properly,” he says.

“Please pray the speaker listens. Next it goes to the National Council of Provinces, and then the Provincial governments will be consulted. And we will fight there. Then it must go to the president and we will lobby him to send it back if not fixed. Lawyers are already preparing a Constitutional Court challenge, and the evidence of flawed process in Parliament and your speaking up will help there. So we have won a lot but not enough, and our children are too valuable to surrender half way. So pray on and keep on speaking up,” he says.

ACDP MP Marie Sukers says in a media statement released yesterday that the bill is a “patch job” that creates more jobs for bureaucrats who will not necessarily address the needs of children — especially in rural areas and towns where small schools are under threat of closure.

DA shadow minister of national education Bax Nodada says in a statement: “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.

Instead of the Bill focusing on the real issues affecting quality education in the country – overcrowded classrooms, dangerous infrastructure, quality of teaching – opposition parties were told that the BELA Bill’s purpose was purely to address administrative concerns. Yet this Bill fails to address the legal lacuna of blended and online learning – an issue the DA has continually raised.”

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