Parents, you have the power to choose your school’s governing body.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that it’s an election year. On 29 May, South Africans go to the polls to vote in a new government. But there is another election that you might not know about unless you’re a parent. Even then you might be unaware that school governing body (SGB) elections happens in March, and it’s the fourth largest election after the national, provincial, and local government elections.
Some would argue that SGB elections are a hyper-local expression of democratic principles. However, will we see most parents expressing their right to have a say in the power structures at their children’s schools? Or will they shy away from the polls, again?
Through the South African Schools Act, SGBs aim to build partnerships between communities and schools, centring parents as key players. Although legislation has intentionally included parents as vital stakeholders in SGBs, their participation is often limited to a select few who serve as representatives of the broader parent community and are actively involved in school governance.
However, the notion that parent representatives on SGBs truly reflect the broader parent body is debatable given historically low voter turnout for SGB elections. Over the years, many schools failed to reach the required quorum and ended up reappointing existing SGB members.
SGBs play an important role in developing school policies relating to language, religious instruction, fees, learner codes of conduct, and the hiring of staff. These decisions ultimately impact children’s experience of school and their quality of education.
Through SGB elections, parents have a unique opportunity to select the people who will influence the way their children experience school. However, much like voters in other elections, parents do not recognise their power.
The reason for this may, at least in part, be due to how parents understand schooling in South Africa. Schools are primarily seen as institutions of learning rather than vital community assets.
For parents and communities to feel invested in their schools as assets, there is a need to open the ‘black box’ of schooling, unpacking and engaging with the multiple drivers that contribute to quality education. This will help parents better understand their rights and responsibilities, recognising their power to elect SGBs and hold them accountable.
We, at Parent Power, recently commissioned the first-ever nationally representative household survey to understand education through the eyes of parents so that we could develop a baseline for how parents in South Africa experience and perceive quality education. In the survey, we asked parents to reflect on five questions, ranging from their child’s happiness and safety at school, how much they know about what is happening at schools, their confidence in staff and whether they feel confident enough to stand up for their child.
A total of 1 705 parents participated in the survey, drawn from all nine provinces and different economic backgrounds, including those with children in no-fee, urban and private schools. It’s important to understand how parents experience schooling because it impacts how they engage with schools, and ultimately, whether they can hold schools accountable.
We found that 18 out of every 100 parents said their children were unhappy at school, indicating potential issues with enthusiasm for learning, comprehension of schoolwork, teacher respect and peer relationships.
Nearly one in five parents reported concerns about their children’s safety, including instances of misbehaviour, bullying and alcohol-related issues at school. Approximately 16% lacked confidence in school staff, citing low levels of trust and communication issues as some of their reasons. These findings represent the concerns of an estimated 2.8 million parents.
We also found that four in 10 parents, expressed a lack of knowledge about school operations, including grade performance, the school’s financial status and absenteeism rates (both among learners and teachers). This suggests a need for improved transparency and communication between schools and parents.
Additionally, 18% of parents felt unable to advocate effectively for their children, indicating challenges related to teacher respect, responsiveness to parental concerns and acknowledgment of student issues.
Results of the survey tell us that as a country we need to do more to empower parents to engage with their children’s education and hold schools accountable. If parents feel disempowered, or don’t know their rights, we are likely to see another SGB election come and go with high levels of voter apathy.
About the author: Andisiwe Hlungwane is the Project Lead of Parent Power, a project that aims to elevate parents as powerful actors in their children’s education. Parent Power supports schools, departments of education and non-profit organisations to meaningfully engage with parents.