BELA Act will ensure linguistic needs of broader communities are met - Ntshavheni

CAPE TOWN - Cabinet says the recently enacted Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Act will ensure the linguistic needs of broader communities are considered.

On Friday, Minister in The Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told a post-Cabinet media briefing that the Cabinet welcomed the signing of the BELA Act as a significant step towards transforming the Basic Education system.

While the BELA Act is now law, President Cyril Ramaphosa said earlier that there would be further engagements on sections of the bill dealing with issues of admission and language.

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Ntshavheni said the landmark legislation would ensure that the language needs of broader communities are considered.

“This landmark legislation requires school governing bodies to consider the linguistic needs of broader community to ensure inclusivity in education, and this will go a long way in making education affordable more especially, in suburban areas where majority of schools are Afrikaans teaching whereas the broader community around the school are English-speaking.”

In light of objections and different views in the Government of National Unity (GNU), Ramaphosa decided to delay the implementation date for clauses four and five of the act by three months, while the issues around language and admission are ironed out.