By More Matshediso
Pretoria - Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga on Friday announced that elections for the 2015 School Governing Bodies (SGB) will be held between 6 and 28 March next year.
“The Minister encourages all parents to support the elections by standing as candidates or by participating as voters because without parental and community support, education can never be a societal issue as envisaged by government,” the Department of Basic Education (DBE) said.
The department said government has entrusted SGBs with policies, finances and all other education resources in order to bring about transformation, constitutional values and academic excellence.
Teachers, support staff, learners and parents are expected to work collaboratively with government to turn schools into thriving centres of excellence.
“These immediate stakeholders in education can organise their contributions to education through the democratically elected SGBs,” the department said.
The SGB elections will take place at over 24 000 polling stations (all public schools) with over 250 000 members elected to serve in school governance.
The department said without the volunteerism, sacrifice, dedication and contribution of SGB members, it would not be able to fully implement its educational programmes.
“It has been proven over the years that schools that have functional SGBs, with parents who are actively involved and take an interest in the affairs of the school, the performance tends to improve,” the department said.
Low parent participation in schools reduces the oversight role that parents need to play in the sector, thereby reducing the sense of accountability to the community. - SAnews.gov.za
