By Ragheema Mclean
After years of debate, amendments, and deliberation in both houses of Parliament, the National Assembly has voted to pass the final version of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill.
The next step is for the President to sign the bill into law.
The BELA Bill aims to amend the South African Schools Act and the Employment of Educators Act, aligning them with the evolving landscape of basic education.
It seeks to address longstanding challenges in the education system, including infrastructure, administration, and misconduct among learners and teachers.
Speaking on VOC Breakfast, Senior Researcher at the Moja Research Institute, Fazlin Fransman-Taliep, expressed concerns about the amendments.
“To speak about the amendments is slightly problematic. These amendments did not reflect most submissions made,” said Fransman-Taliep.
“The BELA Bill process was a democratic action with more than nine thousand submissions from people across the country. It was widely and hotly contested for different reasons.”
Fransman-Taliep highlighted the difficulties in balancing diverse opinions and constitutional considerations.
“When you ask the public to participate and they respond overwhelmingly against something, it indicates there might be issues with it,” she said.
She noted the significant participation from the Muslim community, particularly through submissions from the Muslim Lawyers Association, but criticized Parliament for rushing the bill despite considerable opposition.
“The Department of Baic Education (DBE) made concessions regarding the Muslim community, stating that certain stipulations would be addressed once the bill is signed. However, we questioned why these changes couldn’t be included in the bill itself.”
One of the contentious issues is the oversight of Islamic institutions.
“Based on these concessions, the government will have oversight over Darul Uloom’s with students under the age of 15 and some elements of Hifz institutes to ensure compliance with regulations,” said Fransman-Taliep.
“The sad part is that our Ulama are not part of this discussion. This oversight will come from a non-Islamic institution over our Islamic institutions.”
Furthermore, Fransman-Taliep predicts numerous legal battles over various issues, including language and School Governing Bodies (SGBs).
VOC News
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