PARENT participation in school governing bodies is vital, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says
"Schools with effective and efficient SGB members secure greater success than those with limited parental and community involvement."
Addressing the media in Pretoria, Motshekga, pictured, announced that the 2012 school governing body elections would be held from March 1 to 31.
She said SGBs played a critical role in the daily running of schools, especially in fighting racism, xenophobia, sexism and other forms of discrimination and intolerance.
"Creative and resourceful SGBs play a fundamental role in mobilising scarce resources for education. I call on all parents with children of school-going age to take part in the coming SGB elections."
Parents or guardians of children at school, teachers, pupils in Grade 8 or higher and other school staff members were eligible to be nominated and elected to a SGB. The principal was always a member of the committee by virtue of his-her official capacity.
People with no children at a school could also serve on a SGB, but had no voting rights.
Motshekga said communities should use people with expertise in areas that benefited the SGB and school.
"Treating the SGB elections as a priority will help us in further improving the performance and passes we get. A careful selection of parents is of paramount importance."
Basic Education director-general Bobby Soobrayan said the size of the school determined the size of the SGB.
"Each province has a schedule determining the number of members in each component of the SGB," he said.
An SGB member's term could not exceed three years. For pupil members, the term of office was one year. Pupils were allowed to stand for re-election once the one-year period had lapsed.
Deputy Education Minister Enver Surty said feedback from provinces indicated that about 30% of SGBs were not functioning the way they should.
"There is a close correlation between the performance of a school and its SGB. It's important to develop capacity among the bodies. We are going to monitor the performance of these bodies, without any doubt.
"Soon, we will be distributing 54 million books to learners. We want the SGBs to help ensure that the books are not only received, but used in the learning process. Our emphasis is on improving literacy and numeracy."
The Independent Electoral Commission would monitor the SGB elections in all provinces and help generate a report of the process. National guidelines for SGB elections, training manuals and pamphlets had been developed ahead of the polls.
They were drawn up in a bid to bring uniformity in the system across all provinces. The department said many parents and community members were often reluctant to serve on SGBs because they felt it would be time consuming. - Sapa
Parents key to school success, says Motshekga
PARENT participation in school governing bodies is vital, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says
"Schools with effective and efficient SGB members secure greater success than those with limited parental and community involvement."
Addressing the media in Pretoria, Motshekga, pictured, announced that the 2012 school governing body elections would be held from March 1 to 31.
She said SGBs played a critical role in the daily running of schools, especially in fighting racism, xenophobia, sexism and other forms of discrimination and intolerance.
"Creative and resourceful SGBs play a fundamental role in mobilising scarce resources for education. I call on all parents with children of school-going age to take part in the coming SGB elections."
Parents or guardians of children at school, teachers, pupils in Grade 8 or higher and other school staff members were eligible to be nominated and elected to a SGB. The principal was always a member of the committee by virtue of his-her official capacity.
People with no children at a school could also serve on a SGB, but had no voting rights.
Motshekga said communities should use people with expertise in areas that benefited the SGB and school.
"Treating the SGB elections as a priority will help us in further improving the performance and passes we get. A careful selection of parents is of paramount importance."
Basic Education director-general Bobby Soobrayan said the size of the school determined the size of the SGB.
"Each province has a schedule determining the number of members in each component of the SGB," he said.
An SGB member's term could not exceed three years. For pupil members, the term of office was one year. Pupils were allowed to stand for re-election once the one-year period had lapsed.
Deputy Education Minister Enver Surty said feedback from provinces indicated that about 30% of SGBs were not functioning the way they should.
"There is a close correlation between the performance of a school and its SGB. It's important to develop capacity among the bodies. We are going to monitor the performance of these bodies, without any doubt.
"Soon, we will be distributing 54 million books to learners. We want the SGBs to help ensure that the books are not only received, but used in the learning process. Our emphasis is on improving literacy and numeracy."
The Independent Electoral Commission would monitor the SGB elections in all provinces and help generate a report of the process. National guidelines for SGB elections, training manuals and pamphlets had been developed ahead of the polls.
They were drawn up in a bid to bring uniformity in the system across all provinces. The department said many parents and community members were often reluctant to serve on SGBs because they felt it would be time consuming. - Sapa
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