Almost 500 Afrikaans public schools rewriting their language policies for BELA Act

As the Basic Education Law Amendment (BELA) Act comes into force, 487 of the country’s 882 former Model C, Afrikaans-medium public schools are dropping their single-language-of-instruction policy. 

The Department of Basic Education revealed this, reporting that while the rate of change is slow, there is an effort being made by these schools to introduce other languages. 

During a recent parliamentary meeting with the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, Deputy Director General Simone Geyer revealed a breakdown of former model C schools adapting to the BELA Act. 

The BELA bill has been in the works since 2017, initiated to amend the South African Schools Act and the Employment Educators Act. After much deliberation, it was passed by the National Assembly in May 2024.

President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the act into law in September 2024, but postponed the implementation of two highly contested sections of the bill, sections 4 and 5.

The sections focus on admissions and language policies, making Grade R compulsory, giving the government more control over admissions and schools’ language of instruction.

However, some are concerned that the language policies threaten mother-tongue education, particularly in Afrikaans schools.

Vryheidsfront Plus and civil rights group Afriforum raised concerns about this and other aspects of the act, with the latter starting a “Stop BELA” petition.

The group argued that the act targets Afrikaans language schools by giving governing bodies the final decision on the language of instruction. 

Parties such as the Democratic Alliance and school governing bodies criticised the changes as centralising power within the state at the expense of SGBs, parents and communities.

However, Gwarube, a DA minister, said she would ensure the laws are implemented in a manner that upholds learners’ rights, enhances school functionality, and ensures there is a balance of powers between SGBs and the government.

Despite opposition, Ramaphosa signed the bill into law in its totality, including the disputed sections, in December 2024. It has been fully implementable since then.

Change is slow

The Department reported that “the data indicates a nationwide trend of Afrikaans medium schools introducing English instruction.”

Of the 882 Afrikaans medium former Model C schools, 395 have already added English as a language of instruction. 

The DDG said the department is disappointed in the small number of these schools that are prepared to change their language policy going forward.

Only 92 of 2,594 former Model C schools, both English and Afrikaans, are prepared to change their policies. 

This varied significantly by province. For example, of Gauteng’s 618 schools, none are currently engaging with the department on changing their language of instruction. 

Of the Western Cape’s 506 schools, only 22 are prepared to add additional languages. 

The department said it is targeting former Model C schools first, previously whites-only public schools, because they often serve multilingual communities and have “held on to restrictive language policies.”

Committee chairperson Khomotjo Joy Maimela said that schools refusing to change their language policies must be named and must provide valid reasons for contravening the BELA Act.

She said the only acceptable reasons would be that the school area demographics do not warrant the inclusion of another language or that the school’s governing body is currently in the process of reviewing the language policy. 

Sections 4 and 5 of the BELA act were opposed by politcal parties, including the Democratic Alliance, of which Minister Gwarube is a member.

The DA, and other critics of the BELA laws, opposed these sections on the basis that they centralised control within government, and took away the power of communities and school governing bodies (SGBs) to set the terms for who they admitted into a school and what language they used for teaching.

While the ANC and other proponents of the laws have pointed out that the laws still allow SGBs to set these policies, it is explicitly clear in the Act that the state HODs have final say.

The DA painted it as a victory when it was steamrolled by the African National Congress (ANC) and the BELA bill was signed into law, saying that Gwarube will be in charge of implementing it with caution.

Gwarube attempted to reword the act, including the controversial language policies, but Maimela swiftly criticised the Minister for the attempt to soften the bill, saying this “deviated from the national objective.”

“The law is not an abstract exercise. It must translate into open, inclusive schools that do not use language or admissions policies as a barrier to children’s right to basic education,” said Maimela.