In a months time, thousands of parents will gather in school halls and classrooms to vote for their representatives on school governing bodies (SGBs). As in any good political battle, there will be jostling for positions and plenty of promises. Once the ballots have been tallied, these parent representatives will meet with teaching and non-teaching staff and learner representatives, often after a work day or on a Saturday. The meetings will take place at least once a term, to discuss, argue and debate issues ranging from the maintenance of buildings to exemption from school fees.
They should report decisions to their constituencies at parents meetings, and may even canvass the wider school community before making important changes, such as increasing school fees.
Most of us value democratic schools. School governance structures are closest to the site of teaching and learning, and are therefore best placed to recognise and deal with the obstacles that hamper effective schooling. Democratic governance in the post-apartheid era also holds the promise of transforming schools along the lines of social justice and human rights. SGBs provide an opportunity for local people to take part in school-based decisions, giving a platform to previously unheard voices.
But, for many schools, governing bodies struggle to fulfil their democratic mandates. Sometimes the enthusiasm of electoral promises peters out with the responsibilities of governance, of meeting schedules, of task lists, and many schools fail to make a quorum in SGB meetings. Often, SGB members lose confidence in their ability to govern. This was evident from a three-year study by the Education Policy Consortium (EPC) into school governance. In the words of an SGB treasurer in a KwaZulu-Natal case study site in the EPC research: I know nothing about the school budget. I dont know where it is.
The Department of Education is required to train SGBs to understand the complex legal tasks of what they can and cant do, but training to date has been inadequate in most provinces. Without the capacity to govern, parents often defer to the principal, abdicating democratic decision-making. Learners have an even harder time making their voices heard in the formality of meetings.
Some of the toughest obstacles SGBs face are fund-raising — mainly through the collection of school fees — and administering the exemption process. Parents who want exemption from school fees need the approval of an SGB. But because SGBs rely on school fees to cover essential costs, they fail to let parents know they can be exempted. As the SGB chairperson in one Gauteng school put it, There are announcements, in newspapers, by the minister saying that no child should be turned away from school and then he comes to you and says, Why dont you collect school fees? One lady from the department was here saying why dont we raise school fees? That is the same department which says no child must be turned away.
Despite the difficulties, the EPC research found that SGBs were recognised as legitimate forums where decisions were ratified or the school management team had to explain and account for decisions made. On rare occasions, SGBs were even able to rattle school management and challenge decisions. SGBs influence the ethos of schools in unexpected ways, sometimes supporting the departments policies, sometimes introducing traditional values. In a rural school in the Eastern Cape, for example, the SGB dissented with the ban on corporal punishment but were sympathetic about keeping pregnant learners in school. In another, the SGB challenged the school rule prohibiting the wearing of jewellery, in yet another the SGB described the proper styling of hair as ukuluka isikholwa (the Christian way).
Building strong SGBs is crucial to encouraging democracy at local level. But it is up to parents to participate in elections and consider the ability, drive and determination of their representatives, to ensure that the voice of the wider community is heard.
Veerle Dieltiens is a researcher at the Wits Education Policy Unit (EPU), which, together with the Centre for Education Policy Development, Natal EPU and Fort Hare EPU, conducted the research into SGBs