Groups Want School Admissions Ruling Overturned

[LazyLion]

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 November 30 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 One 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 May 9.


Source : Sapa /mjs/ks/dd/clh
Date : 28 Feb 2013 12:42

 

[AstroTurf]

That is a *** way to solve a lack of decent schools.

 

[daveza]

while the work goes on to bring the majority of public schools up to an acceptable level."

By the time they get that right the current scholars will be on pension.

 

[Sinbad]

**** that. The feepayers and governing body should be empowered to decide on the quality of education offered.

****ing communists must **** off and go and **** up their OWN lives please.

 

[BBSA]

while the work goes on to bring the majority of public schools up to an acceptable level.

The few functional schools will also be dysfunctional before that happens.

 

[Vrotappel]

**** that. The feepayers and governing body should be empowered to decide on the quality of education offered.

****ing communists must **** off and go and **** up their OWN lives please.

+ a ****

 

[Sinbad]

+ a ****

****ing A

 

[Vrotappel]

They will not stop until everything is destroyed.

 

[Nerfherder]

**** that. The feepayers and governing body should be empowered to decide on the quality of education offered.

****ing communists must **** off and go and **** up their OWN lives please.

What the **** does this have to do with communism ?

 

[Sinbad]

What the **** does this have to do with communism ?

Communism is a type of government/ideology that relies on collectivization of labor and good to equal out the classes.

Also:
http://benefitof.net/benefits-of-communism/

1. People are equal.
In a communist regime, people are treated equal regardless of education, financial stability, and so on, in the eyes of the government.

So saying that people who have the financial means to better education are not entitled to it, because it would be unequal treatment, is a communist viewpoint.

 

[ponder]

What the **** does this have to do with communism ?

Let's see, in many of these schools the parents pay extra to get better teachers, build new classrooms etc etc to further the education of their children. Now the masses are saying, hey that's a nice school let's see how many more people can we fit into each class. They wan't those that created this environment to now cater (fund) for others as well.

These dumb fscks should instead be looking at all the money they are wasting, stealing etc through tenderperneurship, corruption, mismanagement, incompetence etc etc. They prefer to break down something that's working to their own level of incompetence, great.

 

[Albereth]

Are these EE freaks out for equally poor education?

And why do we have a centre for child law? What do they do because I've heard all about Section 35 when the books didn't make it to Limpopo but not a peep from these idiots.

 

[Sinbad]

Here's the Grade 2 class at Putuma school in Kwantshuqe

140 kids in the class.

Img src= @Victoria_JohnMG

 

[ToxicBunny]

Useless bloody government....

The money they've wasted on this court case alone could probably have built 4 or 5 classrooms.

 

[saksakgp]

Presumably the mother of the grade one pupil was able and willing to pay the fees. So if the gov forces the school to accept 24 more kids it means that they will have extra school fees which they can use to build another classroom and hire a extra teacher. Ignoring the practicalities of what of what I just typed, the main issue here is about access to quality education that a parent is willing to pay for and not so much a rich subsidising poor issue.

 

[Sinbad]

Presumably the mother of the grade one pupil was able and willing to pay the fees. So if the gov forces the school to accept 24 more kids it means that they will have extra school fees which they can use to build another classroom and hire a extra teacher. Ignoring the practicalities of what of what I just typed, the main issue here is about access to quality education that a parent is willing to pay for and not so much a rich subsidising poor issue.

Let's look at some real facts in this case:

[8] The school opened its application process for admission of children to Grade 1 for the school year starting in January 2011 on 13 July 2010. Over the next few days many application forms were collected. The mother of one of the children, with whom this appeal is concerned, collected hers on 15 July and submitted it to the school on 21 July. At this stage the school had handed out 191 application forms of which 139 had been returned. At the time the child’s mother submitted her application for entry to Grade 1 – which had a capacity of 120 – she was number 140 on the admission list.


[9] On 26 October 2010, the school informed the mother by e-mail that her child’s application for admission was unsuccessful and that her details had been sent to the District Office to assist her with finding a place for the child. The e-mail went on to say that she would be advised in due course where her child may be accommodated. Meanwhile the child would remain on the waiting list. Similar notices were sent to other unsuccessful applicants.


[10] On 4 November 2010 the mother wrote to the principal, Ms Carol Drysdale, asking why her application had not been accepted. Ms Drysdale gave the reason in a letter the following day: the school had reached its capacity. The letter also stated that her application was then number 14 on the waiting list, presumably because some of the children ahead of her on the waiting list had been accommodated at other schools.


[11] The mother then lodged an appeal against this decision with the MEC for Education on 5 November 2010. Meanwhile she continued to put pressure on officials of the department to place her child at the school. There were various meetings between the governing body, Ms Drysdale and the department’s officials to find a solution. At a meeting on 30 November 2010 it appears to have been accepted that the child would have to wait her turn until a place became available. Her mother then enrolled her at a private school, Lifestyle Montessori School, where she commenced attending classes on 12 January 2011.

Source - findings of the judges in the Supreme Court of Appeal.
http://www.saflii.org.za/za/cases/ZASCA/2012/194.html

So, you **** around for 6 months before you apply, you end up 20th on the waiting list, and then you get some friends in government to pressurise the school into accepting your kid?

That sense of entitlement... it beggars belief.

 

[House]

This is clearly a matter if this school is bad, then all should be bad.

The Gauteng Education Department had a meeting a couple of years back where they said they plan to close all 'previously disadvantaged' schools and move the children into better schools in the province.

The problem they had at that time meant that some schools would have to accommodate about 120 children per class, which stopped the decision back then, but in the meantime they decided that current schools must be upgraded and classes' capacity quadrupled.

If they win this court case, we can expect the following:

1. All English schools will see class capacities of 75 children + with immediate effect.
2. Afrikaans schools will be forced to become double-medium or even totally English.
3. Previously disadvantaged children will now have to travel even further to get to schools.

This is just a few consequences....

 

[lived666]

The issue at here is that these former model C type schools share a huge part of the financial burden and if government has its way then parents and governing bodies will cease to pay and function and these currently extremely well functioning schools will end us as all government schools with 100 odd kids in a class and no facilities.

Rivonia Primary is a shining example of how a school can be run. Their fees are high but they offer facilities and a quality of teaching that is not found in many private schools. There are no absentee or poor quality teachers at this school. Instead of learning from Mrs Drysdale, who is probably one of the most dedicated school principles in the country, the government has gone to loggerheads against her and the school.

It will be a sad day when they win their appeal, as governing bodies will cease to function, parents will cease to pay and the remaining functioning schools we have will end up in tatters. A shining example of a ruined school is Sandringham high, makes me mad seeing what has become of that school.