Differences in meaning of the prepositions ‘at’ and ‘by’ support the argument that six public schools contravene the Constitution with their policies on teaching religion, the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) heard yesterday. During closing arguments, Hendrik van Nieuwenhuizen, for the Organisation for Religious Education and Democracy (Ogod), quoted section 15.2 of the Constitution, according to which ‘religious observances’ may be conducted ‘at’, and not ‘by’ public schools, says a report on the News24 site.

It was in the interests of SA’s democracy that public schools not be allowed to promote a specific religion, he said. The NGO wants the court to declare unconstitutional the religion policy of six schools. Earlier, Advocate Adrian d’Oliveira, for the schools, said in his closing arguments that every school should be allowed to choose a religion policy to best serve its community. Matthew Chaskalson, for Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, said she had intended to stay out of the dispute initially.

She, however, joined after the six schools argued that her department’s national policy on religion and education was unconstitutional. She was not an ‘appropriate public authority figure’ to make rules about religious practices at public schools, they argued. The local school community had not elected her and she had no knowledge of or appreciation for each school’s specific religious and democratic needs. Therefore school governing bodies had the authority to determine religion policy. Chaskalson argued that this statement was not well thought through. While an SGB could set policy, this still had to comply with the National Education Policy Act, he pointed out.

Full report on the News24 site