The Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) is a law clinic engaging in public interest litigation and advocacy to advance the right to basic education
The EELC was set up by Equal Education (EE) in response to the increasing need to make use of the law and litigation in the broader struggle for a a better and more equal education for all. The EELC was set up as an independent Trust, called the Equal Education Law Centre Trust.
Education: A key societal issue
The EELC was established in January 2012 for the purpose of engaging in public interest litigation and advocacy relating to education in South Africa. The clinic has been established in response to South Africa’s ailing education system, which remains characterised by poor quality and widespread inequality and which impacts most severely on historically disadvantaged communities. This reality is a far cry from the vision of our constitution - which protects the right of everyone to a basic education. It is widely accepted that education is key to transforming society and in ensuring that all people are empowered to participate meaningfully in all facets of society. The provision of an adequate and equal education is an end in itself, but is also key to the realisation of all other rights.
Vision:
The EELC is committed to building a society in which the quality of education received by learners is not dependent on their socio-economic status or on their parent’s ability to pay school fees or not. Our goal is to ensure the realisation of every learner’s right to an equitable and adequate basic education by employing the law and the constitution, among other things to address problems faced by the education system.
EELC Staff:
The EELC is currently a small outfit staffed by an Executive Director, an Advocate acting as a legal consultant, 3 attorneys, 2 legal research assistants and an administrator.
EELC Board of Trustees:
The EELC Board of Trustees brings together distinguished people with a vast range of skills and expertise in matters of law and litigation, education research and policy development and financial management and activism. The Trustees are:
- Arthur Chaskalson (Chair): Chief Justice Emeritus of the Constitutional Court of South Africa (2001-2005) and President of the Constitutional Court of South Africa (1994-2001); elected to the International Commission of Jurists in 1995, and served as ICJ President from 2002-2008; participated in the founding of the Legal Resources Centre, and served as its first Director from 1978-1993.
- Advocate Vusi Pikoli: former National Director of Public Prosecutions; currently Forensics Director at Gobodo Incorporated; Trustee of the Constitutional Court; Member of the Magistrates’ Commission; and Member of the EU Foundation for Human Rights.
- Advocate Zanele Msweli: Regional Operations Executive of Legal Aid South Africa for the Limpopo/Mpumalanga region.
- Dr Ursula Hoadley: Senior lecturer at the University of Cape Town, School of Education, and former specialist researcher at the Human Sciences Research Council. Her areas of research include curriculum, teachers’ work, the sociology of pedagogy, schooling and socialisation. She is the author and co-author of several books in these fields, including Curriculum: Organizing Knowledge for the Classroom (2009), Managing to Learn: Instructional Leadership in South African Secondary Schools (2008), and Educator Workload in South Africa (2006).
- Professor Mary Metcalfe: Qualified teacher and has worked in teacher training. Mary was Dean of the Faculty of Education at Wits University. She was also previously MEC for Education in Gauteng, and Deputy Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature. During this time, she was a member of the ANC PEC in Gauteng. Prior to democracy she worked on education policy for the ANC. She has a history of activism with the Black Sash, Detainees’ Parents Support Committee and the National Education Crisis Committee, amongst other organisations. Mary was also recently the Director General: Higher Education in the Department of Higher Education and Training. She also served as a member of the Equal Education Board of Directors.
- Itumeleng Mahabane (Treasurer): Partner and Director at Brunswick Corporate Communications Group since 2006; columnist for Business Day and Financial Mail, and former managing editor of the Financial Mail; worked in media and communications for 14 years, winning the prestigious Sanlam financial journalist of the year award in 2003. His clients include the Industrial Development Corporation, ArcelorMittal South Africa, Liberty Group and Anglo American and MultiChoice Africa, Transnet, Eskom and South African Airways.
- Kerry Williams: Partner at Webber Wentzel Attorneys (Public Law Practice Group); specialised practice in administrative and constitutional law.
- Doron Isaacs: National Coordinator and Board Member of Equal Education.
- Yoliswa Dwane: Head of the Policy, Communications and Research Department at Equal Education.
In order to promote our vision of an equitable, adequately resourced and high-quality schooling and education system in South Africa the EELC will conduct litigation, including constitutional litigation, to advance the rights to education and other related constitutional rights. This will include advising and representing clients directly or intervening in legal proceedings as amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) where appropriate. The EELC will provide legal services and representation free of charge to persons who would not otherwise be able to afford such services. The legal processes pursued by the EELC will seek to create systemic change in the education sector.
The EELC will also engage in non-legal processes to advocate for legal and policy development in the education sector. This includes:
• making submissions and recommendations to relevant government institutions and committees;
• conducting legal, policy and other research related to our objectives;
• conducting investigations and enquiries,
• disseminating information relevant to improving the public’s understanding of the inadequacies and inequalities in the schooling and education sector in relation to their rights.
• the EELC will also, where possible, assist communities, community-based organisations and other institutions in formulating their own policy and legal interventions.
