On the one hand, it is possible to provide an extensive list of School Governing Bodies’ (SGBs) advantages as the cornerstone of the decentralized governance system in South Africa’s education. This entity is theoretically able to make decisions affecting the operation of the local school and achieving learning objectives. SGBs are effects on financing, personnel, the realization of curriculums, and relations with the community. In the ideal form and in the relevant conditions, these bodies can be an effective tool for improvement, the existence of a favorable atmosphere, and the driving for quantitative and qualitative growth of knowledge; alternatively, in the reality of Township schools, there is another side of the medal that cannot be ignored. The central motivation of this discussion is examining the prevalent causes and reasons that have made SGBs less effective in this area.
First of all, it is necessary to emphasize the existing limited funding of Township schools and their incapability to meet the majority of student needs. They do not receive the level of financing needed for all goals and do not have access to modern technology, and have to deal with significant decay of schools. According to a study conducted by the Centre for Development and Enterprise two years ago, in 2018, the effective education of students in such drowning schools has a clear negative correlation with the relative share in the allocation of resources. It forces to believe that functioning SGBs in such conditions do not actually determine the situation and cannot generate the required problem and inclusion volume in the pupils’ curriculum.
The second factor is the prevalence of unhoused staff, the lack of programs, plans, and equalities at mire faced difficulties, different reasons for the reduction of educational performance up to the average level and below meet. In addition to the increasing incidence of unemployment, poverty, and crime among the parents of students in townships, they have low potential and opportunities for active participation in the affairs of educational organizations, with which the SGBs also have to deal. Thus, the basic causes of the inefficient operation or existence of SGBs in Township schools are unequal resource appeal and the SGB members’ lack of relevant skills or knowledge. Finally, the deficiencies in the departments described above or other factors are not objective or unchangeable, but targeted practice.
