<div dir="ltr"><div class="col-md-9 menu-container navigation">
<ul class="header-icon-container pull-right nav"><a href="https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/1782260/judgment-on-school-pupils-who-want-to-attend-gauteng-afrikaans-school-due-on-monday/#" class="header-icon search_button_variable">
<span class="fa fa-search"></span></a></ul></div><div class="navigation-container bread-crumb">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-12">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="single-cat-header">
<span class="single-cat south-africa-color">
<a href="https://citizen.co.za/category/news/south-africa/">South Africa</a>
</span>
<span class="single-date">14.1.2018 01:55 pm</span>
</div>
<h1 class="single-headline"><br></h1>
<div class="theshare">
<div class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" style="clear:both"><div id="atstbx" class="at-share-tbx-element addthis-smartlayers addthis-animated at4-show"><span id="at-99ad3030-aeec-4680-94e0-37371cc3c266" class="at4-visually-hidden">AddThis Sharing Buttons</span><div class="at-share-btn-elements"><a tabindex="1" class="at-icon-wrapper at-share-btn at-svc-facebook" style="background-color:rgb(59,89,152);border-radius:0%"><span class="at4-visually-hidden">Share to Facebook</span><span class="at-icon-wrapper" style="line-height:32px;height:32px;width:32px"></span></a><span class="at_flat_counter" style="line-height:32px;font-size:11.4px">28</span><a tabindex="1" class="at-icon-wrapper at-share-btn at-svc-twitter" style="background-color:rgb(29,161,242);border-radius:0%"><span class="at4-visually-hidden">Share to Twitter</span><span class="at-icon-wrapper" style="line-height:32px;height:32px;width:32px"></span></a><a tabindex="1" class="at-icon-wrapper at-share-btn at-svc-whatsapp" style="background-color:rgb(77,194,71);border-radius:0%"><span class="at4-visually-hidden">Share to WhatsApp</span><span class="at-icon-wrapper" style="line-height:32px;height:32px;width:32px"></span></a><a tabindex="1" class="at-icon-wrapper at-share-btn at-svc-email" style="background-color:rgb(132,132,132);border-radius:0%"><span class="at4-visually-hidden">Share to Email</span><span class="at-icon-wrapper" style="line-height:32px;height:32px;width:32px"></span></a></div></div></div>
</div>
<div class="single-byline">
Brenda Masilela </div>
<div class="single-img">
<img src="https://citizen.co.za/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/01/IMG_20180112_113559-1-716x537.jpg?x68991" alt="January 14 - Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi (seated) at the High Court in Pretoria during the hearing in the matter between the department and Hoerskool Overvaal on Friday. Photo: ANA/Brenda Masilela" class="img-responsive">
<p class="wp-caption-text">
January 14 - Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi (seated) at the
High Court in Pretoria during the hearing in the matter between the
department and Hoerskool Overvaal on Friday. Photo: ANA/Brenda Masilela
</p>
</div>
<h2 class="single-excerpt">
Hoerskool Overvaal’s lawyers argued that the
department had failed in determining the capacity of the school before
making a decision on placing the 55 pupils. </h2>
<p>The 55 school pupils who want to be admitted to a
school which only accommodates Afrikaans-speaking pupils will know on
Monday whether they will be able to attend the school and be taught in
English.</p>
<p>Hoerskool Overvaal in Vereeniging and the Gauteng education
department were embroiled in a court battle on Thursday and Friday, with
the school insisting it cannot admit the pupils because of capacity
constraints and a lack of resources.</p>
<p>The school also contended that the department could not simply give
instructions and enforce something which was against the school’s
policy.</p>
<p>The school’s advocate Albert Lamey further argued in the High Court
in Pretoria that the school was not geared for dual-medium instruction,
and said the department had failed in determining the capacity of the
school before making a decision on placing the 55 pupils.</p>
<p>“That is apart from language policy. It is of grave concern that
procedures have been managed in this fashion… No wonder it’s chaos,
placing learners and then the problem is thrown to the governing body,”
he told the court.</p>
<p>Lamey said there had been a sharp increase in the number of pupils of all races who wanted to learn Afrikaans at the school.</p>
<p>Advocate Kumbirai Toma, for the department, hit back, dismissing the
school’s arguments. The school did indeed have capacity to accommodate
the pupils because it had admitted 20 more Afrikaans-speaking pupils
after the department had instructed it on December 5 to reserve space
for the 55 English-speaking pupils, he said.</p>
<p>“If capacity was a problem, the school would not have space for these
20 learners.” The school had been built with 23 classrooms, but only 17
were used for classes while the others had been converted into
specialised centres without the department’s authority. The school had
approval to convert only two classrooms.</p>
<p>“In an essence, capacity is not an issue. There are five classrooms
that can be used to teach learners in English,” Toma said. He also
argued that the demographics of the community had changed and it would
make sense for the school to adapt to societal change.</p>
<p>“The admission criteria says learners who live in a 5km radius from
the school and wish to be admitted, they can do so despite the school’s
language policy.” The school should also not be bothered about how the
pupils would be taught, because that was the department’s concern, he
said.</p>
The school approached the court to review and set aside the
department’s instruction to admit the 55 pupils. Judge Bill Prinsloo
indicated on Friday that due to lack of time he would only be able to
hand down judgment at 2pm on Monday.<span class="sewwu8m5iei2m5f"></span><span class="sewci8njvpwyr4k"></span><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
</div>