16/09/2024
The Bela Bill was officially signed by President Ramaphosa into law. With that, there is a lot of disinformation in social media, these are the important facts:
• The full Bill was not signed. Clauses 4 & 5 (not affecting homeschoolers) were postponed to allow for further engagements over the next three months.
• The remainder of the act is implemented immediately, although it still needs to be published in the law in the Government Gazette – which may be as early as next Friday.
• The Act and its regulations only apply to students younger than 15, and/or in Gr R-9.
YES! The Act DOES make provision for homeschooling. Homeschooling remains LEGAL and a VALID alternative to traditional schooling. And yes, home education will now be more strictly regulated (e.g., compulsory DBE registration and phase assessments).
•The Act makes provision for the continued application of different curricula (other than CAPS)
The primary Educator must be the parent who takes full responsibility for the education of the child.
The parent may choose to offer any curriculum that will be of a standard not inferior to the standard of education provided at public schools.
My Online School South Africais not a virtual online school but offers an excellent online resource for parents to use whilst homeschooling their students- It leads naturally to the GED using Pass GED Academy South Africaor you can switch to the International British Curriculum at age 14 using Cambricollege South Africa. Contact us for a copy of the Department of Education's Policy on Home Education or enroll on https://myonlineschool.co.za