5 000 new SGB members elected: What you need to know
The guidelines state that all public schools in Mpumalanga Province are directed to start a process of admitting learners from June 1 until August 28.
MBOMBELA – 5 000 new School Governing Body (SGB) members have recently been elected and were yesterday welcomed by the MEC of education, Ms Reginah Mahule.
This is what you need to know:
What does the School Governing Body do?
• The South African Schools Act states that a school governing body must administer and control the school property, buildings and grounds occupied by the school, including hostels if applicable.
• A school governing body must encourage parents, learners, educators and other staff at the school to render voluntary services to the school.
• The Head of Department and the School Governing Bodies should encourage parents to apply for admission of their children before the end of the preceding school calendar year: The guidelines state that all public schools in Mpumalanga Province are directed to start a process of admitting learners from 01 June 2015 until 28 August 2015.
• Parents are encouraged to register their children in schools closest to their homesteads.
• The Department is working with the Department of Home Affairs to ensure that all learners within the system have the required documentation.
• The School Governing Body should support the principal, educators and other staff of the school in the performance of their professional functions.
• The School Governing Body should create a favorable environment for the Religious Community through the Moral Regeneration Movement to be actively involved in our schools and to help in instilling a culture of responsibility and good behavior from our learners.
• School Governing Bodies have a role to play in ensuring that schools order the right Learning and Teaching Material on time.
• The School Governing Body is obliged to ensure that textbooks and school stationery are given to all learners at the school without fail. No learner may be denied textbooks or stationery on the basis that his/her parent has not met certain conditions of the school.
• Every Schools Governing Body should develop its School Development Plans for the next three years.
• All School Governing Bodies should assist in monitoring the services that are rendered in their respective schools e.g. provisioning of the National School Nutrition Programmes, Scholar Transport, retrieval of textbooks, securing school furniture and buildings.
• The School Governing Bodies must ensure compliance to government pronouncements and help in eradicating social ills such as teenage pregnancy.
• Ensure that all learners receive what it’s due to them and refrain from withholding report cards from learners because that is against the law.
