Decentralization of schools in South Africa: a study of two SGBs

[摘要] The aim of this research was to analyze the restructuring of the post-apartheid South Africaneducation system through the decentralization introduced in the South African Schools Act of 1996(SASA). SASA was intended to construct a new education landscape for school governanceinvolving School Governing Bodies (SGBs) and founded on participation and partnership betweenstate, parents, learner, school staff and community. SASA ostensibly bestowed powers upon theSGBs, however this research explores whether the schools used in the study were reallyempowered by SASA. Two schools were investigated, one in an affluent area and the other in anunderprivileged area. The investigation was in context of the impact of decentralisation of servicedelivery in developing countries, the adoption of SASA and reforms in the education system fromapartheid to date. A qualitative methodology was used and analysis of fourteen semi-structuredinterviews produced four findings. First, the study corroborated others which suggest that neoliberalismis imbedded in South African public schools and that parents have to pay for qualityeducation. Second, the SGB from the Privileged School executed their projects and tasks well ascompared to the Underprivileged School, since its SGB involved parents that were professionals,with financial backing and the know how to fund raise so that the school was able to provideresources for the learners. Third, the minimal use of SASA powers was not the sole reason forinequality in educational provision, the study also looked into the apartheid historical past whichalso contributed to inequality Finally the post-apartheid (Bantu) education system was acontributing factor to the Underprivileged School SGB’s incapability to utilise all its powers inthat 'Bantu education’ had failed to equip parents from underprivileged backgrounds with theknowledge to exercise all the powers granted to them by SASA, in particular, most parent/s fromthe underprivileged school had not been equipped with professional degrees or acquired significantskills to confidently partake in the SGB. The study concludes that SASA seems to have not fullytaken cognisance of the realities of SGBs in the Underprivileged School since it seems likely,based on my single case study, that their members would not be able to fully implement all thepowers given to them by SASA, indicating the need for state intervention.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand