Abstract
The Zambian National Decentralisation Policy of 2002 calls for the active participation of
various stakeholders in the governance of all government ministries. In education, this was
achieved through the creation of school governing boards in which the parents, educators,
and learners took center stage in the governance of schools. The main thrust of the research
was to explore the factors that militate against democratic school governance in the selected
secondary schools of the Southern province of Zambia. The study adopted a qualitative
research approach. The sample comprised 14 parents and 14 educators who were members
of the school governing bodies (SGBs) in two sampled schools. Data collected using
interviews were analysed thematically. Data analysis showed slippage from democratic
practices in school governance and hence the existence of factors that militate against
democratic school governance were unearthed. The central argument of the paper is that the
SGBs’ lack of adequate preparation impacted negatively on effective delivery by members,
and this was in part attributed to the presence of the factors that militate against democratic
school governance in the sampled secondary schools. The study recommended that, for
democratic school governance to thrive, training of members of school governing bodies was
essential.