School Governing Bodies not getting enough support from government: SGB associations

School Governing Bodies (SGBs) should be getting more support from government as they are “overburdened” with work that is beyond their capabilities.

This is according to Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi and SGB associations.

Last week‚ Lesufi dissolved a School Governing Body at Klipspruit West High School in Eldorado Park‚ where parents disrupted learning at the school‚ calling for a black principal to be removed and replaced by a coloured one.

“SGBs need to be capacitated because they are in touch with the schools. The problem is that they are overburdened with things that are over their capabilities‚” Lesufi said.

He said it was difficult for SGBs to function optimally as they are not permanent and are not paid for the work they do.

Motsamai Lekata‚ chairperson of the National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB)‚ said SGBs were not trained and did not understand how schools are and should be run.

“There are a few SGBs who get support from government‚ but the majority do not get any kind of support. That is why you get provinces with poor performance results.”

“SGBs are also oppressed because they are not educated and do not know how schools are operating‚” Lekata said.

“SGBs need to be trained on the admission process and on how to safeguard our learners. SGBs are clueless on how they should be functioning at schools.”

He said the education department needed to train‚ financially support SGBs and ensure they are fully functional at schools.

“The biggest problem we are faced with as SGBs is that we operate at schools where it is difficult for us to do our job because of racial tensions.

“Communities need to be deracialised because there is still discrimination according to race at some communities.

Chief executive of Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools‚ Paul Colditz‚ echoed Lekata’s sentiments saying provinces were “generally” not complying with the provisions of the Schools Act‚ which include providing training to SGBs.

“The Northern Cape department [of education] has been touring the province providing training. That is the first time in 20 years I’ve experienced a province go out of its way to provide training to SGBs.”

Colditz said the training that some provincial departments offered was “insufficient” as the people conducting the training did not have experience on how SGBs operate.

“The Schools Act was amended to include a provision that allows the department to contract SGB associations to provide training‚ but that is not happening. I wrote a letter to all provinces offering our services to train SGBs‚ but only two of those provinces responded.

“The opportunity to utilise SGB associations is there‚ unfortunately it’s not used‚” Colditz said.

National Education department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga‚ however‚ said the department was providing support to SGBs.

“The South African Schools Act is clear in terms of what their responsibility entails. Over and above that we provide specific training aimed at empowering them with skills required to do their work effectively within the ambit of the law.

“With each SGB election we improve the manual used for the training.”

He said the department has worked with the Competition Commission to educate SGB members around issues of non-competitiveness in the area of school uniform.

“We have worked with ABSA who spent R10m of their own money supporting us to empower SGB members on financial management in schools.

“We also hold training sessions with SGBs on an ongoing basis.”

- TimesLIVE