The Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) is outraged that the DA-controlled Western Cape provincial legislature has seen it fit to pass the controversial School Education Amendment Bill which will allow for the sale and consumption of alcohol on school premises in the region.
This is the height of political irresponsibility and will not only worsen existing social problems, such as brazen and brutal criminality induced by widespread substance abuse, but legitimatise alcohol abuse and misbehaviour in young and impressionable minds.
The message these youngsters will take from it is that if the provincial fathers say it’s cool to drown one’s brain in alcohol and be abusive towards others afterwards, then it’s definitely a cool thing to do.
From a policy perspective, the passing of the bill also contradicts the letter and spirit of national education laws that proscribe the sale and consumption of alcohol and other harmful substances to young people during social functions organised by schools within or outside their premises.
The bill will legitimise the consumption of alcohol by young people around school premises, which no adults, including Western Cape legislators, should offload on to children.
One of Fedusa’s biggest concerns is the establishment of a School Evaluation Authority (SEA), which will receive its instructions from the provincial minister and report directly to him/her.
The problem is that the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) is responsible for the education in the region. This includes the delivering of the curriculum, employment of educators and other daily functions essential for schooling.
By establishing the SEA, Fedusa now finds that the provincial minister is infringing on the roles and responsibilities of the WCED.
Is it a question that education in the Western Cape will no longer be run from the WCED head office but from the provincial minister’s office?
Another concern is the establishment of collaboration and donor-funded schools. We will always encourage donors who want to invest and donate to schools to the benefit of the learners.
The bill, however, makes provision for an external operating partner to form part of the school governing bodies (SGBs) of such collaboration and donor-funded schools. Who will be this operating partner? Who decides which operating partner will be involved with which school?
We are creating a situation where external entities will be involved with the running of the school. In the case of a collaboration school, 50% of the SGB must be allocated to the operating partner.
It is important to remember that the SGB is a democraticallyelected body which consists of representatives from staff, parents and learners in the case of high schools. It is concerning that 50% of a body that is supposed to be democratically elected is now being handed over to an external entity.
Fedusa would like appeal to all labour formations and community-based organisations in the region to campaign for the immediate reversal of this controversial bill.