Court decision sends warning to provincial education departments

A clear warning was sent to all provincial education departments by the South Gauteng High Court today when this court set aside a number of regulations pertaining to the admission of learners to public schools in Gauteng.

"The Gauteng Education Department has been overplaying its hand for a while now by taking decisions that go against all rules of the democratic rule of law. Today's court decision is an indication that provincial education departments should start to plan better, or carry the consequences," says Mr Paul Colditz, CEO of the Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (FEDSAS).

Colditz explains that the essence of this case is that certain stipulations in the regulations that diminish the rights of governing bodies, and would have given far-reaching powers to government officials were set aside by the court. The court judgement clearly states that, in order to give effect to the democratic governance of public schools by school governing bodies, it is of the utmost importance that a public school's autonomy be safeguarded. The court also made it clear that a one-policy-fits-all scenario is not a possibility.

"It's another significant victory for a democratic state where the court confirmed the rights of parents and governing bodies to manage schools in the best interests of children and in the interest of quality education," says Colditz.

Gauteng has a shortage of functioning schools. However, instead of targeting disfunctional schools and trying to get them up to standard, the department is simply placing children in the small number of public schools where quality education is a reality. "This exacerbates the problem as the pressure is now on a small number of schools to handle increasing numbers of learners. In addition, other functions that resort under governing bodies, including language policy, are also being ignored," says Mrs Melanie Buys, FEDSAS Manager in Gauteng.

Although admission is also a function of a school's governing body, the Gauteng Education Department promulgated new regulations that tried to diminish this right of governing bodies.

Colditz says today's court decision, including the fact that the Gauteng Education Department has been ordered to carry the costs, sends a message to other provincial education departments to plan better because ill-advised decisions and ill-considered regulations are not to be tolerated in future.

"FEDSAS again invites education role-players to follow a process of participatory management. At this stage education in South Africa is managed through court cases. This is not how it should be; the interests of children and their right to quality education should be the only benchmark against which all decisions regarding education should be measured. At the same time FEDSAS wants to make it clear that we will continue to fight to protect the rights of our members. FEDSAS will act as watchdog of quality education to ensure that performance will became a reality for all children in South African schools," says Colditz.

(FEDSAS is a voluntary association of school governing bodies of public schools and supports quality education in these schools. More than 1600 public schools are already members of FEDSAS).

Statement issued by Mr Paul Colditz, CEO: FEDSAS, and Mrs Melanie Buys, FEDSAS Provincial Manager: Gauteng, August 28 2013

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