Umamah Bakharia | ub@radioislam.co.za

2 min read
7 March 2023 | 17:35 CAT

The Department of Education has proposed some changes in the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill that will allow for the selling of alcohol on school premises and allowing teenagers to have an abortion without their parents’ knowledge. 

Picture: Forbes

However, parents were not very optimistic on the proposed amendment Bill during a public hearing hosted by Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Basic Education.

The Bill also proposes a standard home-schooling curriculum while other parts of the Bill include giving government department heads control over language policies and the curriculum schools should adopt. 

The Bill also proposes criminalising parents who do not ensure their children are in school, with fines or jail time of up to 12 months.

Meanwhile, the chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Basic Education says parents are not out rightly rejecting the Bill but are highlighting their concerns on sections they disagree with.

“People do not have a problem with the Bill in totality. There are clauses that they feel they don’t agree for instance people would say that we don’t agree with the issue of language, people would say we don’t agree with the issue of admissions, people would say we don’t agree with SGB. But not necessarily with all the clauses and I think that’s what is important about this Bill, you don’t get a total rejection,” says Bongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba, Chairperson of Basic Education Portfolio Committee.

The committee is expected to hold provincial public hearings in North West, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng before breaking for the Easter holidays. Thereafter, they will conclude the hearings in coastal provinces.