The contentious Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill, which has been years in the making, passed its first legislative hurdle last month after the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education agreed to and adopted the bill. It will now head to the National Assembly.

Some of the proposals the committee adopted included making Grade R the new compulsory school-starting age. Concerns, though, have been raised whether there are enough resources to undertake such a move.

Some NGOs have also raised concerns about the wording of “documents” required for school admission without providing clarity on what this means. Parents or caregivers could be jailed for submitting false or misleading information.

Another area of contention is the stipulations on language and admission and the stipulation that the final decision rests with the Head of Department of Education in each province.

Much has been written on the country’s education crisis. A recent report revealed that the country is the single biggest learning underperformer relative to GDP per capita among low and middle-income countries, performing worse than Kenya or Tanzania when it comes to education.

In this week’s Friday Briefing, we ask whether the BELA Bill is missing the mark when it comes to dealing with our education system failures.