Department says Fedsas case flawed
The Gauteng department of education says the Fedsas argument against parallel-medium schools is flawed.
An application by school governing bodies against plans to force schools into double-medium tuition was flawed, the Gauteng education department said on Wednesday.
It said the argument by used in court by the Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (Fedsas) was not in line with the Constitution in terms of access to education.
The High Court in Johannesburg ruled on Tuesday that school governing bodies had the authority to decide on the preferred language of education of the schools they controlled.
Fedsas approached the court in reaction to plans by the department to convert some single-medium schools to parallel-medium ones to create more space for pupils in the province.
Education spokesperson Phumla Sekhonyane argued that Fedsas had it all wrong.
“As a matter of record, we wish to state that Fedsas is misleading the court and the public, by stating that this case is about language rights. This case is not about language right.”
The real issue was access to education, Sekhonyane said in a statement.
“The issue of language is being used as a false shield to exclude those who are entitled to education at a school that they qualify to attend in terms of the applicable legislation.”
The department said schools should not exclude a pupil on the basis of language and should ensure that access to education was upheld and given substance.
The ANC Youth League Tshwane branch said it would approach public Afrikaans schools in a bid to get them to consider switching to parallel-medium tuition.
“We will send letters to schools and the department to have a discussion on this matter. We are not anti-Afrikaans. We are pro-change,” said leader Tshepo Masanabo.
“School governing bodies should start accommodate everyone and it is discriminatory to reject a child because of language.”
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