Abstract
M.Ed.
This inquiry into capacity building of SGB's in a rural community was undertaken to
find out what the views and perceptions of stakeholders were, and also what the
possibilities of education and training were for members of these bodies. The
problems of school governance, most of which have to do with the lack of literacy and
the limited knowledge of civic affairs and the South African Schools Act (SASA),
cannot be resolved with SGB's that function on low capacity.
As a researcher practitioner I am an experienced school principal and a novice
researcher. I inquired into this issue and found that there are, indeed, many serious
problems with regard to the capacity of board members, not only in terms of literacy,
understanding of financial management and the meaning and application of the
SASA, but also with perceptions about their role and function and the procedures that
are needed in a functioning body such as this.
I concluded with a number of suggestions that included viewing the capacitating of
members as a community education effort. This would mean educating and training
more the existing members, but a wider group of stakeholders. In this way the future
of the school's SGB would be assured, as they would have a wider pool of capacitated
members to draw from and an electorate that is educated as well.