Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube said her department will be led by the consultation process underway regarding the suspension of two sections of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill.

President Cyril Ramaphosa delayed the implementation of sections of the bill dealing with admission and language to allow consultation for three months.

Responding to oral questions in the National Council of Provinces, Gwarube said Ramaphosa indicated at the weekend that part of the reason he suspended the implementation of the bill was to try to have national dialogue in the interest of unity and make sure deliberations were looked into.

“I look forward to getting a direction from that process from the Presidency because it is important as the department that we don't delve into our views particularly section 4 and 5 when there is an ongoing process in the next three months.

“I think once the Presidency has completed that process we can implement what comes from that,” she said.

Asked about exclusion of pupils on the grounds of language, Gwarube said a minister was empowered to create and pass regulations.

“This is where when things are not clarified we can clarify in the regulations.

“We can make sure that we put certain measures in place to make sure the Act is sound and it provides guidance to various schools and school governing bodies on what needs to be done.”

However, Gwarube said while the process of consultation was awaited, whatever school governing bodies and heads of department did would be guided by the Constitution.

While Gwarube said she did not want to pre-empt the outcome of the consultation, she said: “The department must be led by the outcome of the consultation.”

She noted that the newly-enacted legislation promoted and protected culture.

Gwarube said the Act provided for school governing bodies to take into account the cultural beliefs of pupils when determining the code of conduct and that pupils may apply for exemption from the code of conduct on account of spiritual beliefs.

Asked how the budget cuts will impact on the recruitment of teachers and essential staff, Gwarube said she has taken upon herself to engage the Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana to do everything to shield frontline services from budget cuts.

“If we sacrifice teachers because of budget cuts we are going to have... larger classrooms and a larger teacher-learner ratio.

“We want to make sure that we look after teaching and learning time in classrooms and that we want to look after education outcomes.”

Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabane said universities will struggle with raising tuition fees because their operations.

These included salaries that needed to increase at the same rate as the consumer rate.

She was asked whether universities will be able to operate without raising tuition fees. Nkabane said the Higher education Act did not empower her department to regulate student fees.

Cape Times

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Gwarube looks forward to Bela Bill talks