Abstract:
The decentralisation of education is one of the strategies used by governments to deliver education to their citizens. In post-apartheid South Africa, the introduction of the School Governing Bodies in 1996 was one of the strategies to decentralise education by devolving some powers to parents, teachers and learners. The South African Schools Act no 84 of 1996 was enacted to regulate school governance. SASA gave the parents a mandate to govern every public school. This authority requires parents to know their roles in School Governing Body. Relevant literature shows that parents in rural SGBs lack financial management skills. This problem leads to the pervasiveness of poor financial management in most rural schools.
The aim of the study was to explore perceptions of parents on their role regarding accountable financial management in the SGB within which they are governing body members. This study adopted a qualitative research approach and used a case study as a research design. Six no-fee public ordinary schools were purposively sampled. The participants included the chairpersons and treasurers of the SGB in schools around the Vuwani area of the Vhembe District, Limpopo province.
The study found that the participants perceived their roles in the SGB as a process of delegation, financial management, financial control, and budgeting. Most of the participants had some experience in the SGB which seemed to have played a role in the perceptions of participants towards their role in the SGB. It was also suggested that accountability was achieved through meetings that were held monthly, quarterly, and annually by the SGBs; however, there was a partial adherence to the prescripts in the budgeting process. The findings also suggest that the participants are faced with a challenge of understanding English which is used as a medium of communication by the Department and in workshops.
