“Afrikaans is our right, build isiZulu schools,” says AfriForum

Opponents of the controversial Basic Education Laws Amendment bill (BELA) say instead of doing away with Afrikaans-medium schools, government should increase its capacity and build new schools for other language speakers.

Several political parties, including AfriForum and the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), held pickets outside the Department of Basic Educations offices yesterday, calling for the bill to be scrapped.

If signed into law, the BELA bill could see parents face up to one year behind bars for failing to take their children to school.

It could further see School Governing Bodies (SGBs) stripped of their powers of deciding on school language policies.

AfriForum Youth spokesperson, Louis Boshoff, says the Department of Basic Education should step up.

“Rather build more schools. If there’s a community with a properly functioning Afrikaans-medium school and there’s lots of need for an English or isiZulu school then the department should create that capacity,” he told YNews.

There have also been concerns raised that the bill’s ambiguity with regards to sexual education, makes room for explicit sexual content to be taught from primary school age.

Dulton Adams from the ACDP says specialised teachers will be needed to teach children about mature sexual content.

However, NAPTOSA spokesperson, Basil Manuel, say the proposed sex curriculum is not compulsory, but rather a toolkit for teachers.

A sitting of the National Council of Provinces was set to decide on the adoption of the bill yesterday but had to be deferred to next week. Written by Naomi Kobbie