The education department should fulfil its duty and build workable schools with the huge budgets which are received annually rather placing a burden on already heavily taxed parents to provide better education to less-privileged learners, Adv. Anton Alberts, the FF Plus parliamentary spokesperson on basic education, says.
Adv. Alberts says it is unbelievable that a department which have for the past twenty years received huge amounts of the budget year after year and this year received approximately 25% of the total budget, is now faced with a situation where the Gauteng MEC for education is persisting with his plans to merge rich and poor schools through shared governing bodies.
According to a report in Beeld, Panyaza Lesufi is planning to start with such a project in January of next year already.
Adv. Alberts said that education in South Africa is in a critical state with infrastructure in particular, collapsing at hundreds of schools. More than a thousand schools don’t even have running water.
“Education has received generously from the national budget in the past twenty years. R177.6 billion was allocated to the department in this financial year. And yet, Lesufi’s only solution for the problems is to burden the so-called wealthy schools to assist the poor schools.
“The wealthier schools are mainly carried through expensive school fees, which are already placing a huge burden on parents. Now parents will be indirectly taxed double by having to assist with the upliftment of poor schools while the ANC government is wasting money which is supposed to be used for this, through its poor policies.
“The government wants to break everything which is still working until nothing will be left. Instead of leaving good schools in peace, assist poor schools and build new schools with its huge budget, the better and workable schools are now being targeted.
“What is happening here is a breach of every international legal principle about minorities and according to the FF Plus, it is unconstitutional.
“The FF Plus will oppose it and will as soon as possible hold discussions with the minister of basic education, Ms. Angie Motshekga and with Lesufi.
“The discussions with the minister will be held against the backdrop of her reaction to the budget debate on basic education in which she promised that Afrikaans schools are not and will not be targeted and that mother tongue education is regarded as being important,” Adv. Alberts said.
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