Why nothing is going to change as a result of Bela

I really cannot see what the fuss is about the Bela bill. Political parties and conservative citizens should really relax.

Nothing is going to change as a result of Bela. This is why.

Governments develop policy for a whole range of reasons, some of which have nothing to do with implementation.

If you are part of that crowd that says “we have the best policies” but “what we need now is implementation”, you have learnt nothing about education policy in the three decades since democracy.

A policy has political goals and not only instrumental ones. It signals what you would like to do, not what you will actually do.

It shows deference to multilateral agencies to demonstrate that your country is in line with obligations such as the SDGs or sustainable development goals.

The promise of money by some of these agencies can wake up a sleepy government such as Guinea Bissau or Mozambique, which are desperate for foreign currency.

Watch some of the Arab states agree to expand girls’ education when that very notion goes against some of the most fundamental beliefs of some of our brothers.

None of the education goals of the SDGs will be achieved; every analyst knows that but still government agencies and dependent consultants run around as if this is going to happen.

It is embarrassing really, this fealty to government policy and the genuflection to transnational authority.

Do you really think that parents will be criminalised for not sending their children to school? Get real.

What about the chronic absence of teachers who are regular no-shows in the schools that can least afford it?

This is not going to happen because the state does not even have the capacity to curtail rampant crime by catching thugs — how on earth is it going to enforce compulsory attendance of children?

Imagine trying to force grade R children to attend school when you underfund this element of public schooling.

Bank on winnable lawsuits. Stop panicking.

Remember, the renewed flurry of activity around Bela came ahead of the national elections, a sad attempt to demonstrate that the then majority party was making policy for its populist agenda.

Well, how did that turn out?

I don’t like homeschooling, especially when the loudest complainants are those arch-conservatives and pseudo-Christians who want to “protect” their children from public education.

They have that right, of course, and I would defend homeschooling per the constitution.

But do you really think that a government that cannot give you matric results before Christmas has the capacity to capacity to monitor the expansive ecology of homeschool education? Take a chill pill.

And then, of course, there is the panic that under-enrolled white Afrikaans schools will have to go dual medium because of the pressure for placements of black pupils from nearby townships.

Let me assure you, this complaint has little to do with language which until now has been a handy shield for schools that wish to remain white.

Teach Afrikaans classes; that is both wise and lawful.

But don’t think that 30 years into this democracy you can hide behind the language to prevent other languages from also being taught in a school with capacity to take more pupils.

We need to end this nonsense.

Of course, corporal punishment is wrong. It has always been so regarded under a democratic government.

Restating that policy under Bela is, quite frankly, repetition.

And yet we know that there are many schools and teachers in schools of our country that still beat children black (well, sort of) and blue.

Did official policy abolish corporal punishment for good? No. So why this feverish reaction from parents and politicians?

And a final word to the parties in the government of national unity.

Could you all please just grow up?

You cannot, every time there is a policy difference, act like childish brats and threaten to withdraw from this political arrangement which you agreed to so as to reflect the will of the electorate and keep our country going forward.

Negotiate, find consensus, and understand that when it comes to policy you all will have to learn to compromise for the larger cause.

For once, I plead with you, put the country and its people first, not your combustible egos.

The president of the GNU has shown maturity in holding back on two clauses in the Bill; that is to be admired.

The Action SA party in Tshwane has thrown an agreement on the mayor out of the window; that is immaturity.

There are other more pressing problems in SA than fighting over Bela, a set of policies that will change nothing except to raise the blood pressure of the discontented.

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