Groups want admissions ruling overturned
2013-02-28 16:15
-
Johannesburg
Johannesburg: The elusive metropolis is a pioneering effort to insert South Africa's largest city...
Now R236.00
buy now
Johannesburg - The department of basic education must be
empowered to decide the capacity of public schools, Equal Education (EE) and
the Centre for Child Law (CCL) said on Thursday.
The two groups would apply to be amici curiae, friends of
the court, in the department's Constitutional Court challenge against a Supreme
Court of Appeal (SCA) decision in favour of Rivonia Primary School's governing
body.
On 30 November last year, the SCA ruled that the
governing body of a public school, and not the provincial education authority,
had the authority to determine the number of children the school may admit.
The EE and CCL sought to support a challenge of this in
favour of a finding that, where a school's governing body set its maximum
capacity in its admissions policy, this could not be binding on provincial
education officials, and should also not be rigidly applied.
"The government must exercise its power to place a
child above the capacity set in a school’s admissions policy lawfully,
reasonably and following a fair procedure," the organisations said.
In 2010, the Gauteng education department forced the
principal of the Rivonia Primary School to accept a Grade 1 pupil, even though
the school was full.
The pupil was put on a waiting list, but was later
enrolled by an order of the department.
The EE and CCL said the Rivonia school was privileged
compared to the majority of public schools, with class numbers averaging 24
pupils as opposed to 50 or 60 in many other public schools.
"EE and CCL recognise that this is a sensitive issue
and do not support policies that seek to destroy or diminish these more
privileged public schools in the name of equality.
"However, they believe that the law must, and does,
support ensuring greater and fairer access to well-resourced public schools,
while the work goes on to bring the majority of public schools up to an
acceptable level."
The matter would be heard in the Constitutional Court on 9
May.
- SAPA
