The Governing Body Foundation (GBF) said that although it welcomes the publication of the draft Bela Act regulations relating to school admissions and for determining school capacity, it also notes several ambiguous points and technical issues in these regulations.
These regulations, published to enable the correct implementation of amendments to the South African Schools Act (SASA) introduced by the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act (BELA Act) of 2024, aim to direct how admissions and school capacity are managed by the nine provincial education departments and public schools.
GBF’s Chief Executive Officer, CEO Dr. Anthea Cereseto told Newsnote that they will submit comments on the regulations, while the foundation will continue to encourage all schools and the public to study them and submit their own comments for the Department of Basic Education’s consideration.
“There’s nothing outstanding or shocking in these regulations, what it tries to do is to make it clear where the actual South African schools Act doesn’t go into the details of things.
In fact, the Department of Basic Education is asking the people to have a look at these draft regulations to see whether they make sense, they are workable, they are understandable and that there’s no ambiguity and I think there are one or two points which need clarification with regards to Grade R.
Besides that, I think people will think this is all right, it reinforces principles of the constitution, the rights in the constitution, and all that sort of things is embodied in the regulations and in the schools Act,” explained Cereseto.
In addition, she said that parents have always been asked to produce immunisation history of their children when they enrol them at any school.
“The regulation 14, dealing with proof of immunisation, is useful for a situation where a parent is reluctant to provide this proof or refuses to allow his/her child to be immunised.
Regulation 14(7) which directs public schools not to admit a learner, in the best interest of other learners at the school, where proof of immunisation or proof of exemption has not been provided, creates certainty for schools.
However, there may be challenges from parents, based on the right of all children to basic education, where exemption has been declined” explained Cereseto.
The foundation has welcomed the draft Regulations on Minimum Uniform Norms and Standards for Capacity of Ordinary Public Schools, highlighting that it will make it possible to determine when a school can be declared full and to identify schools that are overcrowded or underutilised.
Cereseto has however decried some parts of the draft regulations that don’t consider the realities of the diverse school buildings and how schools organise teaching and learning.
“This factor has particular significance in secondary schools, especially grades 10-12, when learners do not move to subject classrooms as an entire register class, as the definition of ‘register classes implies.
We are extremely concerned that the regulations unreasonably assign the same classroom space of one square metre for a Grade 1 learner to a Grade 12 learner,” remarked Cereseto.
