SCHOOL AMENDMENT BILL RAISES CONCERNS

IT SEEMS that the Western Cape Department of Education is pushing ahead full steam with its proposed amendment bill for schools despite the concerns expressed previously by its own legal team.

Or is the provincial department subtly and cunningly trying to legalise a platform where traces of apartheid can still be practised?

Three matters of concern are (1) the establishment of collaboration schools and donor-funded public schools; (2) legalising the consumption and sale of alcohol on school premises; (3) authorising principals to administer admission tests at certain public schools.

Should the proposed bill become law, then collaborators and donors will comprise 50% of the governing body, placing total control of school matters entirely in their hands.

This bill will also legally allow certain schools to sell alcohol on school premises. A reason that it will attract more parents to school events is nonsensical. Or does the provincial Department of Education have a hidden agenda? Will this allow former Model C schools to offer their premises as cheap venues for events?

Bearing in mind that foetal alcohol syndrome disorder (FASD) is the highest in the Western Cape, liquor and public education should be kept far apart.

Many former Model C schools have been administering admission tests, despite their being illegal. Schools were not forced to comply when the provincial Department of Education was approached. Is the province in a subtle way trying to legalise this illegal practice?

Is the Western Cape Department of Education trying to circumvent the spirit of the laws that govern education? You be the judge.