Volume 39 Number 14 - Computer Science

SMA travelsto Tuks toheckle NusaspresidentThe National Union of South AfricanStudents (Nusas) has recently been denied theright to establish a local committee at PretoriaUniversity.The Tukkies SRC turned down the NusasNew billsthreatenSTEPThe government has put forwardan Education Laws AmendmentBill which if passed will bring allbiack education under the controlof the Department of Educationand give the Minister of Educationnew powers of control overadmissions to schools, closing ofschoois and the fuing of teachers.The path of the Bill itself hasbeen lined with confusion andirony. The National EducationCrisis Committee was asked byparliament to comment on the Billwhile the DET has said they knowof no such submission to theNECC.Apparently the Bill was sent tothe NECC, a UDF affiliate, on therecommendation of the PFP in a3ommittee where the DET waspresent. Most of the NECCexecutive are in detention at themoment. The decision to submit:he Bill to the NECC is alsounexpected in the light of theaccusation last year by a memberof parliament that it was carryingout the aims and policies of theAfrican National Congress.The somewhat humorous side ofthe Bill's progress does not detractfrom its sinister implications.The Bill, which oniy applies toblack education, redefines a''school" as any institution thatoffers black education. Thisrncludes pre-school and postschooieducation encompassinganything from nursery schools totechnikons. It also covers allinformal education and tutoringschemes. The Srudent TeachersEducation Program (STEP), runby Wits students as well as any,adult education, colleges or unioneducation programs would beredefined as a "school" and wouldbe bound by all the regulationsgoverning schools.The regulations also extend thepowers of the Minister ofEducation over schools. In termsof the Bills the Minister has thepower to close schools and toUapplication on the basis that the motives of theNusas launching committee was 'suspect' andthat Nusas is antithetical to the 'Afrikaansnature' of Pretoria University.In response to this, Nusas challenged the SRCto debate the issue under the topic "Wie en watis Nusas?" The SRC declined this and insteadinvited the National Students Federation (NSF)to take their place.The platform was shared by Nusas President,Steve Kromberg and Phillip Verster of NusasStellenbosch, versus the NSF President, PhillipPorvell and Nicholas Myburgh of theStellenbosch NSF.'I'he debate rvas characterised by a voialcontingent of the Student Moderate Alliance(SMA), Wits affiliate to the NSF, who heckledcontinuously as Kromberg and Verster spoke.-jsuspend students, teachers andprincipals without priorconsultation with the principals orlocal authorities.A further ciause prohibits theentrance of students to schoolpremises for any activity besides"school events", defined as schoolinstruction, sports gatherings andother events that have theprincipal's sanction. This is seen asan attempt to prevent schoolsbecoming community meetingplaces and to hamper studentorganisation in schools.Teachers absent for more than 14days can automatically be fired,and school attendance will becompulsory,A further clause provides for thesupply of free textbooks. The BillwJAlthongh the NSF claimed not to support thebanning of Nusas at Tukkies, "the 'half-truthsand slander' on the nature of Nusas simplyreinforced the SRC's decision", saidKromberg.The NSF also attacked the Nusas/Sansco nonracialalliance, Powell claiming Sanscodescribed itself as "the internal wing of theANC and that 'a vote for Sansco is a vote forOliver Tambo and the ANC"'Nicholas Myburgh conspiratorially alludedto a "private side" of Nusas, revealed only to aselect few, but failed to elaborate on the contentof this "private side".When challenged on freedom of speech,vociferous heckling prompted Kromberg torespond "What you have here is a speaker beingdisrupted."Eight past SRC Presidents came to a cocktail party celebrating SRCAdministrator Jocelyn Cairns'decade ol working for the SRC. From left:Lloyd Vogelman (1982/3); Claire Wright (1985/6); Brendan Barry (1983/4)Etienne Marais (1986/7); Hose Hunter (1987/8); Norman Manoim(1979/30); Jeremy Clarke (1981/2); Jocelyn Cairns.also mentions the alternativesyllabi drawn up by the NECC-andmakes it clear ahat ttre bhtYacceptable syllabus is that of theDET.This Bill comes in the wake of deKlerk's bill on universities,designed to stifle campus Protest,and is seen by the NECC as"further entrenching apartheideducation."The NECC called a nationalconsultative conference to discussthe Bill. They noted that the Bill"does not address the continuingcrisis in our schools which is due toapartheid education" and thereforeresolved to "reject the Educationand Training Amendment Act intotal and call for the withdrawl ofthis Act."They arso resolved to consultnationally with mass democraticorganisations with a view tolaunching regional and nationalcampaigns to show their rejectionof the Bill.The Bill has dehnite implicationsfor Wis students. If the BiIl wereto be passed STEP, a tutoringscheme for biack students, wouldfall under the conEol of the DET.Ian Michelow, one of the twoSTEP co-ordinators, said that ifthis were to happen STEP wouldhave seriously to consider theeffects this would have on itsteaching role. Under the newpowers that the Minister ofEducation would have it would alsobe possible for him to close STEPat any time.