The High Court of Appeal rejected an appeal filed by the organizations Equal Education and the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu). These organizations challenged laws concerning collaboration schools, public schools funded by donors, and the provincial school evaluation body.
The appeal was lodged against a ruling and decision issued by the High Court of the Western Cape. Equal Education argued that the Western Cape Provincial Education Amendment Act does not guarantee the representation of students and parents on school governing bodies. Furthermore, they objected that this act does not establish sufficient criteria for converting a public school into a collaboration school or a donor-funded school.
Sadtu insisted that the amended provincial legislation contradicts certain provisions of the South African Education Act which regulate the composition of School Governing Bodies (SGBs). The teachers' union also considered the contested norms to be unfounded and vague, as they do not properly define a suitable donor and operating partner to be included in the SGB.
Management of Collaboration and Donor-Funded Schools
Regarding the Western Cape School Evaluation Body, Sadtu told the court that the contested provisions unreasonably violate the rights of the union and its members to collective bargaining. Acting Judge Bossei Henry Mbha noted that when considering disputes between parties, the High Court paid close attention to ensuring education in South Africa's public schools generally, and in the Western Cape specifically.
Mbha emphasized that the High Court rightly observed the poor quality of education in public schools, the poor solvency of most of these schools, the insufficient equipping of most first-year students, and the suboptimal functioning of management and leadership, including SGBs and school principals. He also pointed out that regarding collaboration schools and donor-funded schools, parents must play a significant role in educating their children, and that the important role of parents and other stakeholders in managing public schools has not been undermined or violated by any of the contested provisions.
The judge added that 'the question of any conflict between the contested provisions in the Act and various 'rules' according to section 23 of the South African Education Act, to which Sadtu refers, does not arise at all.'
Significance of the Ruling for Western Cape Schools
Bossei Mbha also stated that the High Court correctly established that although collaboration schools and donor-funded schools are not ordinary public schools, this does not mean they are not public schools. He found no basis for Equal Education's claims about a gap in governance in the Act or that parental and student representation was compromised in the SGBs of collaboration and donor-funded schools.
'Membership in the SGB of a donor-funded school may include donor representatives. Nowhere in the Act is it mandatory that membership in the SGB must or should include donor representatives,' Mbha noted. Furthermore, he found Equal Education's challenge, based on the assumption of no clear process for converting a public school into a collaboration school or a donor-funded school, unconvincing.