Chair, hon Ministers, Deputy Ministers, leaders of the ruling and opposition parties, hon members, comrades, ladies and gentlemen, the Bill before the House deals with technical and substantive issues with regard to the existing provisions in education legislation.
The amendments affect provisions in the following legislation: the National Education Policy Act, Nepa, of 1996; the South African Schools Act, Sasa, of 1996; the Employment of Educators Act of 1998; the South African Council for Educators Act, Sace, of 2000; and the General and Further Education and Training Quality Assurance Act of 2001.
There was a thorough consultative process with various stakeholders, including consultation with the Heads of Education Departments Committee and the Council of Education Ministers, as well as the cabinet committee responsible for Basic Education. All their inputs were incorporated.
The Bill was drafted to address technical and other substantive issues in order to provide greater clarity with regard to existing provisions in the education legislation. It also provides statutory authority for practices already in existence in schools. The following are the main features of the Bill.
The creation of the new Department of Basic Education has necessitated a redefinition and deletion of certain words and expressions that occur in Nepa. The Bill seeks to amend the definitions of "Director-General", "Minister" and "education institution". For the same reason, it also proposes the substitution of the word "learner" for "student".
In clauses 4 to 14, which deal with the South African Schools Act, the Bill proposes the insertion of a new definition of "loan" in order to deal with financial contracts entered into by schools. An amendment of the definition of "parent" is also proposed in order to include both a biological and an adoptive parent.
The Bill proposes an amendment to section 5A of the South African Schools Act in order to provide that the Minister of Basic Education must first consult the Minister of Finance before prescribing a regulation on minimum norms and standards for school infrastructure. The aim of this amendment is to comply with the requirements of the Public Finance Management Act.
The Bill seeks to insert a new section, 6B, in the South African Schools Act in order to ensure that governing bodies guard against unfair discrimination in respect of the official languages that are offered as subject options in the curriculum. The objective of this amendment is to ensure that all official languages are treated equally and that schools cannot use languages as a basis for discriminating against learners.
The reason for the amendment proposed to section 9 of the South African Schools Act is that the powers of MECs have to be further strengthened and that there has to be legal certainty to the process regulated by section 9.
The amendment proposed to section 12 is aimed at introducing a new category of public school, namely a public school that provides education with a specialised focus.
There is an amendment aimed at extending the functions and responsibilities of the principal of a public school. The amendment seeks to give principals greater accountability in respect of advising the school governing body, SGB, on financial matters.
The amendment proposed to section 19 of the South African Schools Act is meant to empower the Minister, when determining norms and standards and in order to enhance the capacity of SGBs, to authorise a governing body association to perform certain functions to build the capacity of SGBs.
The Bill seeks to insert a new section, 33A, in the South African Schools Act which is meant to ensure that the school timetable is not interrupted by party-political activities, including campaigning, the conducting of rallies, the distribution of pamphlets and fliers, and the hanging or putting up of posters and banners, unless such party-political material is related to the curriculum of the school.
The amendment proposed to section 36 of the South African Schools Act is meant to empower SGBs, with the approval of the MEC, to supplement their school funds.
There is also an amendment which is meant to empower the MEC responsible for education in a province to identify, in addition to the list published by the Minister of Basic Education, schools in the province in question that may not charge school fees. This will allow provinces to determine quintiles without necessarily being bound by those that have been nationally determined. This amendment has been occasioned by the migration of learners, which has caused changes in population demographics in communities.
The remaining clauses are technical in nature and I shall not deal with them in this debate. Thank you.