In the past year the Commission has carried out a number of monitoring visits and addressed various complaints from learners, educators, and trade unions, as well as conducted various investigations. These initiatives revealed a number of challenges, such as:

• The need to address the shortage of schools and classrooms in South Africa, which cause overcrowding or the non-placement of learners;
• Replace aging school infrastructure and improve on the lack of maintenance; address the shortage of toilet facilities and insufficient teachers at schools;
• Resolve the issue of a lack of scholar transportation and poor road infrustracture for learners to be able to attend school;
• Address the exclusion of undocumented learners from attending school and the lack of sufficient school nutrition programmes available for learners;
• Create adequate awareness and sensitivity around pregnant learners; address the need for properly trained teachers to educate special needs learners; and
• Ensure compliance with the prohibition on corporal punishment, as well as bullying. These issues will be addressed by further inquiries and court cases instituted by the Commission in the coming year.

The Commission would also like to take this opportunity to reflect on some of its important interventions, over the past year or so, in ensuring the promotion, protection and monitoring of the right to access to education. Most recently, the Commission wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa on the BELA Act, in respect of the suspension of the operation of sections 4 and 5 of the Act. The Commission requested that, going forward, it be included in discussions around the formulation of the regulatory framework of the Act, and on the upliftment of the suspension of the operation of sections 4 and 5 of the Act. Prior to that, the Commission also recorded its grave concerns regarding the announced budget cuts in the education sector, and its impact on jobs, as well as on the state’s ability to address the infrastructural challenges at schools, particularly in historically black and poor communities.

Resultantly, in an effort to secure redress for both learners and educators, the Commission undertook to consult with the Portfolio Committee on Education, and the Ministers of Basic Education and Finance on these issues. The Commission also investigated allegations of excessive regulation of learners' appearances and school uniforms, specifically in the Eastern Cape province. A report was issued at the end of 2023, which addressed, among other things, learners' natural hair, the wearing of religious and cultural symbols, and requests for gender-neutral school uniforms.

The report required an audit of all schools’ codes of conduct and an amendment to the Department of Basic Education’s Uniform Guidelines to ensure that schools have inclusive, rights-based school uniform and appearance policies. In the same province, the Commission conducted another inquiry, into the impact of poor road conditions on the realisation of human rights. This report revealed that inadequate road infrastructure continues to severely hamper access to education in the Eastern Cape.

An investigation into school infrastructure in the North West province was also conducted and a report was issued in December 2023. The report found that infrastructural challenges at schools in the North West remained endemic, manifesting along racial and socio-economic lines, and hindered learners’ rights to basic education. The Commission, thus, recommended that the North West Department of Education prepare a comprehensive plan of action identifying all schools with infrastructural challenges alongside a plan to correct them. The Commission has also been conducting monitoring trips to various schools around the country to ensure compliance with the requirement to eradicate pit toilets at schools.

In the coming year the Commission, together with the Department of Basic Education, will be launching a constitutionally compliant Model School Code of Conduct, which is to be adopted and adapted by schools throughout the country. The Model School Code of Conduct addresses, amongst other things, school values, appearance and uniform, gender identity, and disciplinary procedures and measures at school.

The Commission, in partnership with the Departments of Basic Education, and Justice and Constitutional Development, will also be hosting its annual National Schools Moot Court Programme later this year. The Programme is aimed at raising the constitutional literacy of learners in high school through the presentation of a hypothetical legal scenario, wherein high school learners must argue opposing views, using the Constitution and other legal instruments to do so.

The Programme aims to nurture legal skills and foster an understanding of constitutional principles among high school learners. The Commission will also look to launch a rights-and-responsibilities campaign focused on learner discipline and criminality in schools. The Commission reminds learners that they have rights but that they equally have duties and responsibilities. In the coming weeks, the Commission will be conducting school readiness monitoring visits to determine that schools are ready and adequately resourced for this academic year. A public report will follow these visits.

Lastly, the Commission would like to recognise educators for the invaluable work that they do in setting the foundations that our nation is built on – education.

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ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

For further information or inquiries, please contact Given Makhuvele on 082 773 4428/072 197 7581 (WhatsApp)or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.