Parents urged to conclude SGB elections properly

Pretoria – Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has encouraged parents to keep up their participation in the School Governing Body (SGB) elections to ensure that every school has an effective SGB by the end of this week.

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) on Wednesday said it is important that parents use the opportunity to contribute meaningfully in the running of their children’s schools and play an active role in the education of their children. The elections will conclude on 28 March.

“It is the responsibility of all parents to participate in the elections by voting if they are unable to stand for a position on the SGB, thus ensuring the school is in the best possible hands,” the DBE said.

The department said it is up to everybody who is eligible to ensure that all schools have an SGB by the time elections come to an end.

It said all SGB structures will expire on 28 March and the implication for not electing a governing body before the day is that such schools will not have legitimate SGBs and they will be unable to transact or enter into contracts.

Minister Motshekga commended all parents who have already participated in the process and thanked them for heeding the call to make education a societal issue.

“We have received tremendous support from parents in the 2015 SGB elections. There are schools where attendance exceeded expectations with school halls overflowing with parents.

“This is an indication of our maturing democracy and the fact that our parents have begun to understand their indispensable role of supporting education for the benefit of all the country’s children,” said Minister Motshekga.

The DBE said it cannot achieve all its ambitious targets alone without the spirit of volunteerism demonstrated by parents and communities in supporting education programmes.

“This is the third largest exercise of democratic voting rights in our country after the Local Government elections. There are roughly 23 000 schools participating in these elections and we expect around 250 000 SGB members to be elected through this process.

“Training for the newly elected SGB members will commence once the elections are concluded. New chapters have been added onto the training sessions to ensure that SGBS become even more effective,” the DBE said. – SAnews.gov.za