School language battle heading to court
The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) is heading to court to defend why it wants English learners admitted to an Afrikaans school in Vereeniging.
The GDE is adamant that Hoërskool Overvaal in Vereeniging must accept English medium learners since the school has space available.
The case is set to be heard on Tuesday in the High Court in Pretoria.
Department spokesperson, Steve Mabona, says they believe the school's language policy is flawed.
"A school is taking us to court. They are saying that the Head of Department (HOD) must not interfere in their admissions. This means that they don't want the HOD to admit the learners the school decided not to admit. We have evidence that [learners] were not selected because of language, or by race (as) one can put it. If there is no evidence that you are an Afrikaans speaker you were not admitted."
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The provincial department is currently battling to find placement for over 30 000 learners. MEC Panyaza Lesufi has vowed that no parent or learner will be turned away and gave the assurance that all learners will be placed by the end of January.
Mabona says the Vereeniging school is totally disregarding admission regulations.
"You can't use language only you need to look at all the regulations and see how you admit learners. You cannot focus just on one aspect."
Hoërskool Overvaal declined to comment.