Afrikaans home-schooling parents have asked the Pretoria High Court to declare they are not bound by the national education curriculum or policy on religion


policy row 

Independent Newspapers Picture: Masi Losi

Lucia van Wyk at the Pretoria High Court with papers lodged by independent AfrikaansChristian schools and home schoolers taking on the education minister and arguing that they could not be forced to follow the national curriculum or policy on religion and education.

While a group of independent Afrikaans Christian schools and some home-schooling parents have asked the Pretoria High Court this week to declare they are not bound by the national education curriculum or policy on religion, education authorities maintain these are binding on everyone.

The Beweging vir Christelike-Volkseie Onderwys (BCVO), the CVO School in Pretoria and two sets of parents – the applicants are named as Gysbert van Rensburg and Tina van Deventer – attacked three notices issued by the education minister.

These were the revised national curriculum for pupils in Grades R to 9, the national curriculum statement for Grade 10 to 12 and the national policy on religion and education.

The group asked Judge Cynthia Pretorius to declare these policy statements not legally binding on them as they were only statements and not legislation.

They wanted the court also to declare that there was no legally binding national curriculum or procedure for the evaluation of pupils’ performance…

Read more here:

http://www.tios.co.za/school-minister-locked-in-policy-law-1.1038680