Teacher unions yet to react to Bela Act regulations

The country's leading teacher trade unions are still consulting on the new dual sets of regulations pertaining to the Basic Education Law Amendment (Bela) Act recently gazetted by Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube.

- Eric Mthobeli Naki

The South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) and the National Professional Teachers Organisation of SA (Naptosa) appear to be in no hurry, despite the deadline of 5 September being around the corner.

The minister issued the regulations for public comments on 6 August and the public has until 5 September to submit their comments. The two sets of regulations deal with school admissions and the determination of school capacity.

The admissions and capacity draft regulations are the first instalment in the process. Instead of releasing all the regulations at once, the minister opted for a "modular release approach".

She promised a public awareness campaign would be launched to enable the public to make informed comments.