Higher Education Amendment Bill; Education Laws Amendment Bill: briefing

Meeting report

EDUCATION AND RECREATION SELECT COMMITTEE
10 September 2003
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ON HIGHER EDUCATION AMENDMENT BILL; EDUCATION LAWS AMENDMENT BILL: BRIEFING

Chairman : Mr Kgware (ANC)

Documents handed out:
Education Laws Amendment Bill (B38 - 2003)
Higher Education Amendment Bill (B36 - 2003),
Summary of Education Laws Amendment Bill
Summary of Education Higher Laws Amendment Bill

SUMMARY
Department briefed the committee on the amendments to the respective bills. As a considerable amount of time would pass before the Bills were accepted by parliament, a transitional measure was required to tide educators over. This referred to governing bodies who enlisted the services of educators at schools. It was thus accepted by the Department that existing arrangements were deemed authorised for a grace period of one year.

MINUTESr
Dr Raju ((DA) wanted clarity as to what happened when a school governing body advertised a post, by whom the applicant would be employed.

Advocate Boshoff (Director, Legislation, Department of Education) explained that under the current legislation, the governing bodies were reluctant to assume the position of employer when they enlisted the services of an existing state educator. The amendment to the bill would require the governing body to apply for authorisation to employ such a person and detail the nature and extent of such employment.

Dr Van Niekerk (FA) asked what would happen if someone was needed at short notice, and authorisation was not solicited four months prior to the finalisation of the governing body's budget?

Advocate Boshoff replied that if this was not budgeted for, there was nothing to be done as governing bodies were required to plan ahead and budget for such circumstances.

On the subject of the introduction of National Institutes for Higher Education in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape, Mr Raju was concerned that students who wanted to pursue studies in law or medicine would be unable to do so.

Advocate Boshoff replied that higher education structures were already operating in these provinces, the purpose of the institutes would be to coordinate the functioning of these structures and ensure that the needs and interests of their students were being met.

The meeting was adjourned.