Note from the special editor for the CELP contributions

• Date: 01 January 2014
• Author: Susan Coetzee
• Pages: III-VI
• DOI: 10.10520/EJC163000
• Published date: 01 January 2014

BAEd BEd MEd DEd Certificate Programme in Law LLB, Associate Professor, University of South

*

Africa.

See, for example: Head of Department: Mpumalanga Department of Education and Minister for

1

Education v Hoërskool Ermelo 2009 ZACC 32; MEC for Education in Gauteng Province v

Governing Body of Rivonia Primary School 2012 ZASCA 194; Fish Hoek Primary School v G W

(642/2008) 2009 ZASCA 144; 2010 2 SA 141 (SCA); 2010 4 BCLR 331 (SCA); 2010 2 All SA 124

(SCA) (26 November 2009); Le Roux v Dey (CCT 45/10) 2011 ZACC 4; 2011 3 SA 274 (CC); 2011

6 BCLR 577 (CC); BCLR 446 (CC) (8 March 2011); Governing Body of the Juma Musjid Primary

School v Essay NNO (Centre for Child Law and Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa as

Amici Curiae) 2011 8 BCLR 761 (CC); Head of Department, Department of Education, Free State

Province v Welkom High School; Head of Department, Department of Education, Free State

Province v Harmony High School (CCT 103/12) 2013 ZACC.

Note from the special editor for the CELP

contributions

Susan Coetzee*

The Centre for Education Law and Policy (CELP) is grateful for the opportunity

to have a section in SA Public Law set aside for articles dealing with Education

Law. Considering the rate at which the highest courts in South Africa, for

example, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court, are called

upon to decide on educational matters, it is clear that not only education

stakeholders such as the National Department of Basic Education, provincial

departments of basic education, principals, governing bodies and educators, but

also the courts struggle to benchmark the interpretation of Education Law against

the Constitution. With this in mind, CELP invited articles from experts in

1

Constitutional Law and Education Law on the theme: Benchmarking South African

Education Law against the Constitution.

Six articles were selected. Professor Rika Joubert, the Director of CELP, set

the scene with an article titled ‘Incorporating international standards into national

education law in South Africa: The accountability of the state’. She refers to

section 39(1)(b) of the Constitution, in terms of which, state accountability should

be interpreted to comply with international norms and standards relating to the

right to education. She argues the need for increased state accountability to

protect the right to education.

However, it seems that finding the state (in this case, the Minister of Basic