Nearly a quarter of Gauteng schools have held Schools Governing Body elections in the first 10 days of this month.
The Schools Governing Body (SGB) elections are scheduled to take place in various schools across Gauteng in the month of March 2012 under the theme “Your SGB Vote Counts: Make Your Child’s Schooling a Priority.
The elections are on track and we urge parents to participate in numbers. In some areas attendance has been very good. Out of 2 149 public schools in our province, 512 schools have held elections.
The majority of elections are scheduled for the second and third weeks of March and take place mostly on weekends. To date, 140 schools have deferred elections because they did not have a quorum. All elections should be completed by end of this month, and those reconvening elections should complete voting by the middle of April.
Schools are inviting parents or guardians to attend two meetings which should take place no less than 24 hours of each other. The first meeting is to nominate candidates and the second meeting is where the voting takes place.
“SGBs perform various functions and there are particular skills they need to have in their collective. An SGB would need someone with knowledge of the law, because at times SGB members need to deal with disciplinary hearings of learners. They would also need someone with knowledge of finance.
“A person who serves on an SGB should have a spirit of community services since there is no remuneration provided. They should be able to express the views of parents and be able to ask parents what their opinion on various issues,” Gauteng Education MEC Barbara Creecy said.
Members of SGBs include parents or guardians, educators, learners in grade 8 or higher, staff members who are not educators and co-opted community members. Principals are automatic members of SGBs. The participation of all these stakeholders, including learners, educators and general staff in a school ensures that everyone has a role to play in decisions taken about the whole schooling collective.
SGB serve for a period of three years and their role is to ensure the smooth running of schools. Issues SGBs deal with include policies such as language of instruction, discipline, religious practices, schools fees, fundraising and budget.
For more information contact:
Charles Phahlane
Tel: 011 355 1530
Cell: 071 860 4496
