On 3 October 2013, the Constitutional Court upheld, in part, an appeal against a judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeal that is of core importance to South African education, school governing bodies (SGBs), as well as public single-medium schools.

The matter rested upon determination of the question of who has the final say in determining admission policy in South Africa’s public schools: schools and their SGBs or provincial departments of education?

Last week, the Constitutional Court handed down a judgment in which it dismissed an appeal from the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in which the Constitutional Court ordered two Free State high schools to review their pupil pregnancy policies. The matter also – and very importantly – addressed the powers of a Head of a Provincial Department of Education (HOD) to issue instructions to the principals of public schools to act in contravention of school policies duly adopted by the governing body of such schools (SGB).