Most provincial education departments execute their duties and obligations with such negligence and incompetence that it amounts to a direct infringement of children’s basic rights.

          This pattern of continuous systemic failure in eight of the nine provincial education departments left FEDSAS with no other option but to lodge a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission. The only exception is the Free State Education Department.

          “There are no second chances for these learners. Each school day lost is a constitutional failure with lifelong consequences,” says Dr Juané van der Merwe-Mocke, Deputy CEO and Head of Legal Services at FEDSAS (Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools).

          “We are not talking about isolated incidents or the result of temporary administrative challenges. These education departments have been neglecting their constitutional and operational obligations over a long period of time.”

          Among others, FEDSAS’s complaint refers to the failure to appointed educators in funded vacant posts. Delayed, partial or non-payment of Norms and Standards (NNSSF) Allocations to schools is another issue. This, in turn, leads to the misallocation and retroactive use of education funds. Many education departments do not make adequate provision for nutrition programmes and learner transport. All these failures contribute to a deepening inequality between public schools. Well-resourced schools are able to absorb the impact of these failures to some extent while no-fee schools are entirely dependent on provincial education departments.

          Van der Merwe-Mocke says FEDSAS has made several attempts to point out non-compliance by provincial education departments. “We wrote many letters and made formal presentations to education departments. These issues were also highlighted on meetings of the National Consultative Forum, which includes the Department of Basic Education. Apart from a couple of insufficient responses, most of our efforts were ignored.”

          FEDSAS says these collective failures violate constitutional rights, including acting in the best interests of the child (Section 28(2)), human dignity (Section 10), the right to basic education (Section 29(1)(a)), the right to food and essential social support (Section 27(1)(b)), and the right to equality (Section 9). 

          “The right to basic education is not aspirational. The Constitution stipulates that it is immediately realisable, enforceable and unconditional. The State is not at liberty to ration access to teachers, infrastructure, or operational funding based on internal dysfunction. Bureaucratic red tape is robbing children of their future.”

          FEDSAS lodged the complaint in accordance with its mandate to act as a voice for its members but also as a call to accountability in defence of South Africa’s children. The organisation is calling on the South African Human Rights Commission to launch an immediate investigation and to direct provincial education departments to execute their duties and obligations in accordance with the Constitution.

          Van der Merwe-Mocke says the culture of incompetence that characterises most education departments has compromised the credibility and functionality of the public education system. “The cost of continued inaction is not merely statistical — it is measured in dignity denied, futures stolen, and trust broken.”