Friday 6 March marked the start of the 2015 School Governing Body Elections that will take place until 28 March.
“This is an opportunity for all parents to have a say on who is elected in the SGB of their children’s school and possibly stand for nomination as well,” Thebe Khumalo, External Communication for Gauteng Department of Education said.
The role of SGBs is to make sure that schools run efficiently. Their functions include maintaining school infrastructure; determining the language policy and sports codes; discipline; making sure staff are qualified and determining school fees.
According to Khumalo, “There are over 2 100 schools participating in the School Governing Body Elections this year. The outgoing members of the SGB started in 2012, by the time the election process is completed on 28 March, there will be well over 2 400 newly elected SGB members.”
Choosing an SGB is serious business and “[a] total of 47 Provincial observers and 47 Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) monitors from Head Office will oversee the election process… They are the third biggest elections after the National General and Local Government Elections.”
