Low turnout of parents in Western Cape SGB elections

Livingstone High School was due to elect their new school governing body on Tuesday, March 20, but a poor turnout resulted in the elections being postponed for a week.

Livingstone High School was due to elect their new school governing body on Tuesday, March 20, but a poor turnout resulted in the elections being postponed for a week.

Published Mar 27, 2018

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Cape Town - The turnout of parents for student governing body (SGB) elections has been dismal at schools across the Cape, and many schools didn't meet the 10% requirement to create new SGBs.

However, National Governing Body Foundation head Tim Gordon is still hopeful that the process will conclude before the term is out.

Schools including Plumstead High School, Camps Bay High School and Table View High School experienced poor turnout at their initial election meetings and moved on to second meetings to select SGBs where quorums were not necessary.

“Large numbers of schools have had no quorum first time around and go into their second meeting. The main difficulty is when parents live in the township and their children attend school in the suburbs,” said Gordon.

Western Cape Education Department spokesperson Millicent Merton said approximately 85% of schools have completed their elections and a number of schools are still scheduled to hold elections this week.

“A few schools were unable to finalise their elections and will do so when schools reopen on April 10

“The participation of parents ranged between schools. Overall, there was moderate attendance and there is room for improvement. The SGB elections are due to be completed by April 30.”

Schools which saw smooth sailing include Manyano High School, Harry Gwala Secondary School and Claremont High School. “We completed our election in March 11 and the majority of parents came. We have so many passionate parents who want to take the school forward, so we're blessed,” said Manyano High School principal Nokuzola Malgas.

Harry Gwala Secondary principal Gcinisile Mlungu said: “We had no problem, we elected our SGB the first time.”

@IamAthinaMay

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Cape Argus

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