The controversial Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill was signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday, but was met with mixed reaction.
For one, Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube boycotted the signing, and while some political parties welcomed it, other have threatened court action, and the WCED said the bill would destroy provinces financially.
Among others, the bill gives guidance with the abolishment of corporal punishment, merging schools, and making Grade R the new compulsory school starting age.
It also provide penalties for parents and guardians who do not ensure that their children are in school.
The bill also seeks to transfer decision-making authority from school governing bodies to provincial education departments in its admission and language policies.
The latter will be discussed over the next three months and the implementation of the bill has been put on hold.
Education MEC David Maynier said while they support extending the provision of Grade R, making it compulsory at this point will destroy provinces financially.
The WCED recently announced that it would be cutting 2407 contract teachers from their payroll by December due to a shortfall in budget, after only receiving 64% of the cost of the nationally negotiated wage.
“The National Treasury has indicated that no funding is available, and provinces will once again be left to find the money to cover this R17.7 billion unfunded mandate on their own.
“Doing so at the time when the Western Cape Education Department is already facing a R3.8 billion budget shortfall will explode the deficit,” said Maynier.
However, Education Expert, Professor Murthee Maistry, an academic at the School of Education at UKZN, said the issue of money should not stand in the way of children’s futures.
“We welcome the initiative. In the past we only had the middle class who had access to Grade R, so making it compulsory, means that children from all walks of life, income groups and race, get to start their schooling career the proper way.
“The state should be finding ways to come up with the funds, for example, through partnering with private businesses.”
The Democratic Alliance indicated that they are preparing for court action but the leader of the opposition in the legislature and spokesperson for the ANC Western Cape, Khalid Sayed, said they welcomed the signing, saying that the Grade R clause should not have a negative impact “because the WCED should have already budgeted for it”.