Education:
(1) Whether there exists a standard policy and/or set of guidelines in her Department that are provided to schools to guide them to develop their own (a) admissions policy and (b) code of conduct; if not, why not; if so, (i) what are the relevant details, (ii) what criteria are followed to develop these, (iii) what is the role of her Department in the process, (iv) when are these reviewable and (v) what is the process thereof
(2) how often are the admission policy and code of conduct, which are developed by schools, reviewed by her Department for compliance with the relevant guidelines or policies;
(3) (a) what remedies are available to ensure compliance with the appropriate guidelines provided by her Department and (b) how are these remedies applied?
[1]
[a] The Western Cape Education Department [WCED] Policy for The Management of Admission and Registration of Learners at Ordinary Public Schools and the national Admission Policy for Ordinary Public Schools guide schools in developing their admission policies.
[b] The development of the code of conduct is based on the relevant national and/or provincial legislation, published regulations, such as the Western Cape Provincial School Education Act, 1997 [as amended] and directives from the WCED.
[i] Please see above.
[ii] Each policy has its own unique criteria/requirements as outlined by the South African Schools Act, 1996 [as amended].
[iii] The WCED provides training, capacitation, and support.
[iv] Once every three years [within the three-year term of an SGB].
[v] Revision is done by means of consultation with all stakeholders, namely parents, teachers and students [including the Representative Council of Learners]. The process must be participatory, open and transparent. The adoption of the new agreed upon points, the updating of the policy [new items inserted], and the signing of the policy, is done by the School Governing Body [SGB].
[2] They are reviewed annually. The Department of Basic Education’s SGB Functionality Tool is used to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of governance in schools across the country. It is the role of the Circuit Managers to evaluate each school under his/her auspices and evaluate the policy against set criteria in the Functionality Tool.
[3] [a] The remedies include the mediation of policy guidelines to stakeholders [including district officials], and monitoring by district and/or head office officials.
[b] They are applied consistently.
