By Lehlohonoolo Lehana.
The Department of Basic Education has published proposed changes to the National Policy for Determining School Calendars for Public Schools in South Africa for public comment.
The department has gone back to the drawing board with the changes in its bid to maximise school time following the past three years’ disruptions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The proposed amendments would provide more flexibility when it comes to determining the start and end dates of each term. It will also address the staggered coastal/inland calendar.
Here are proposed school calendar changes
- The fourth term – which used to end in the second week of December – must end in the first week;
- Removing specific mention of months where terms should end for added flexibility;
- Integration of public holidays into school holidays;
- Flexibility to still allow for a staggered calendar if it needs to be implemented;
- Allowing for more religious holidays for minority learners (previously, the maximum was two days);
- Allowing for deviations on an urgent basis in response to disasters or exceptional circumstances;
- Allowing for approved changes to be announced and disseminated through social media. (In the past, this was limited to newspapers only.)
However, the department’s proposed changes do not eliminate the staggered calendar completely, noting that this would indirectly impact things like tourism, road safety and traffic.
“Seeing that the timing of school holidays could have an effect on traffic flow, which, in turn, has potential road safety implications, the Department should plan the school calendar in a way that will assist in minimising traffic flow relating to school holidays,” it said.
“The aim is to allocate different dates to the two clusters in the first term so that traffic density before the opening of schools for the new school year is kept within acceptable levels.”
The DBE has also already confirmed plans for coastal and inland schools to start and end on the same date for the school calendar for 2024 (continuing in 2025 and 2026).
Meanwhile the highly divisive Basic Educational Laws Amendment Bill (BELA) has come under further scrutiny following public consultations in Gauteng.
The BELA bill aims to make significant changes to schools across the country with some controversial provisions reducing the power of school governing bodies, giving the government the final say on language policies and forcing homeschooled learners to be registered.
According to Parliament, public consultation over the new Bill this past weekend (7 May) in Johannesburg led to the majority of participants rejecting the Bill, primarily on the basis of clause 37 of BELA, which proposes a process for the registration of homeschooled learners.
Some respondents to the consultation called for a complete scrapping of the clause and consultation with relevant stakeholders to address the demands of the homeschooling sector.
Participants who have opted for homeschooling highlighted that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) didn’t consult those within the environment enough and that little research was done before the Bill was drafted,” said Parliament.
“They also argued that requirements proposed by the Bill, including the arrangement of an independent assessor, were meant to increase the cost of homeschooling, thereby discouraging parents from choosing this option.”
Further concern around the Bill related to the argument that imposing an application process for homeschooling took away the rights of parents to make decisions for their children.