School governors sought

Parents have been urged to take part in the school governing body elections that kicked off yesterday and will run for the rest of March.

After national, provincial and local elections, they were the next-largest election in the country, said Governing Body Foundation CEO Tim Gordon.

The school elections take place every three years.

Governors Alliance secretary Kathy Callaghan said the governing bodies must be chosen wisely because they ran the finances of schools.

The governing bodies decide on school fees, after consultation with parents, and on the language, religion and admissions policies. They adopt a school code of conduct and constitution.

Equal Education spokesman Yoliswa Dwane said the South African Schools Act gave governing bodies a lot of power.

This could be problematic. Previously, white schools could make speaking Afrikaans a language or admissions policy to restrict the numbers of black pupils .

"Language policies must not be chosen in a way to discriminate learners' entry into the school."

Dwane said she was concerned that parents from former black schools did not participate enough in their children's schooling.

But Gordon said many people from townships were "politically conscious and involved", while parents of functioning former Model C schools often did not get involved or vote when things were working.

Leader of the DA Helen Zille said it should be of "profound concern" that an estimated 80% of school governing bodies in the country were considered dysfunctional by the two major governing body associations.

"It is critical that . the upcoming elections result in competent and committed people being elected to [bodies], with the capacity to select quality teachers and to manage schools' finances."