AfriForum threatens legal action over BELA Bill
AfriForum says President Cyril Ramaphosa's advocacy for mother-language education is mere lip service unless the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill is scrapped.
The lobby group argues the current bill poses a serious threat to mother-tongue language education, especially Afrikaans.
The so-called BELA Bill proposes several changes to admissions and language policies and seeks to make Grade R the compulsory school-starting age, among others.
The government argues the bill essentially seeks to strengthen governance in schools by tightening certain sections of the Schools Act.
But AfriForum claims it centralises power and targets Afrikaans schools.
The organisation's Alana Bailey has criticised Ramaphosa, saying he's blaming schools instead of acknowledging the department's dysfunction.
"The BELA Bill creates the most serious threat to quality education in South Africa to date, and therefore, AfriForum will continue taking all necessary national and international steps to ensure that it won't be implemented."
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