The Department of Basic Education has provided a detailed breakdown of its draft Basic Education Laws Amendment bill, and the changes it will introduce at schools in South Africa.
The bill, which was first announced in 2017, seeks to provide updated amendments to sections of the South African Schools Act. This includes stricter rules around student attendance, admissions and language policies. In a presentation to parliament on Tuesday , the department said that some of the key proposals in the bill include:: School attendance in South Africa will be compulsory from grade R and no longer only from grade 1. Despite the age at which school attendance is compulsory, a parent may, if they so wish and subject to a few conditions, enrol a child at a school to start attending grade R at a younger age.