<div dir="ltr"><h2 class="">MEC wants school powers</h2>
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Poppy Louw | 30 September, 2015 00:29</div>
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According to Lesufi, a process to review the act was under way
and the education department was consulting the community. File photo<br>
<b>Image by:</b> Vathiswa Ruselo</div>
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The Gauteng department of education wants to regulate school
admissions and enforce language policy at all schools in the province.</h3><div class=""><div class="">
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<p>These are recommendations that emerged from the Gauteng education summit held at the weekend.</p><p>MEC Panyaza Lesufi was concerned about the power of school governing bodies.</p><p>The
commission assigned to address the SA Schools Act and governing body
associations raised its concerns about powers held by school governing
bodies.</p><p>It was suggested that the powers currently held by the
SGBs, namely the regulation of admissions and the language used for
teaching, should rest with the MEC.</p><p>According to Lesufi, a process to review the act was under way and the education department was consulting the community.</p><p>"The
recommendation that it be the MEC is because he has an aerial view of
society, but also that he will be able to manage this power with the
help of other departmental officials.</p><p>"Sometimes you find SGBs
holding communities to ransom with the language of instruction at
schools, even if the demographic around the school is different," Lesufi
added.</p><p>The education portfolio committee has received six
petitions this year from parents and organisations complaining of
schools not admitting children due to language policies.</p><p>Gauteng education portfolio committee chairman Joe Mpisi said most complaints had been about Afrikaans medium schools.</p><p>"We
must get everyone on board urgently to address the language policy
issue. It's a ticking time bomb we don't want exploding in our faces,"
said Mpisi.</p><p>But Paul Colditz, of the Federation of Governing
Bodies of SA, said he was "not sure" if any governing body association
would support the transfer of power.</p><p>According to Colditz, the
decision opposed parental and community involvement in schools as
contained in education policy documents</p><p>"The decision would be in
conflict with the philosophy of the principles underlying the
dispensation of public education," Colditz said.</p><p><a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2015/09/30/MEC-wants-school-powers">http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2015/09/30/MEC-wants-school-powers</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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