The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) supports the petition concerning Gauteng school subsidies that Solidarity and the Schools Support Centre (SOS) submitted to Parliament earlier today.
The petition formally requests Parliament to investigate the Gauteng Department of Education’s failure to pay subsidies to schools and to make recommendations.
According to the petition, the Gauteng Department not only failed to pay, but also confirmed in writing that it does not have the funds to do so.
The petition explains that in the private sector, this would have indicated bankruptcy and appropriate action would need to be taken. So, in this case, the national Department ought to step in and protect learners’ interests.
The petition was handed over to the Freedom Front Plus, other parties and parliamentary staff members. It will subsequently be tabled to the relevant Portfolio Committee and the National Assembly.
In the Freedom Front Plus’s view, the Department’s failure created the ideal opportunity for cultural communities to take control of their education.
While this should be a basic right in a multicultural country, government is still holding tight to the reins of a centralised educational system. Still, it is one capacity that government seems to be losing its grip on.
One of the main reasons the Freedom Front Plus exists is to promote communities’ cultural rights. And so, the party will keep striving for it – in education as well.
