Representatives of the Gauteng Education Department are expected to appear in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday to respond to an urgent application by the School Governing Body of a school.
Hoërskool Overvaal in Vereeniging has taken the department to court following a dispute over the school’s admission criteria.
Provincial Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi says the dispute emanates from the department’s intervention after it realised that the school was discriminating against non-Afrikaans speaking learners.
“They’ve preferred Afrikaans speaking learners over other languages. On the waiting list what they’ve done, [is that] if you speak English, Xhosa, Zulu they skip you and look for someone who speaks Afrikaans and pull that person upward. This undermines people who have applied on time.”
“We told that school to stop, they’ve taken us to court, and we’re going to court. We’ve indicated to them that we’re not scared of courts, courts are neutral venues, and you must treat all children equally,” adds Lesufi.
We are here tomorrow to defend the rights of all children to have access to education. Support us https://t.co/qLLg8pGU2d
— Panyaza Lesufi (@Lesufi) January 8, 2018
