Durban - Teachers' unions have criticised a proposal by the Educators’ Union of South Africa (EUSA) that schools appoint only parents with an academic qualification to school governing body (SGB) positions.
The union argued that parents without a tertiary qualification and “illiterate” parents should not be appointed as members of the SGB as they lacked the capacity to perform duties such as conducting interviews to appoint principals, deputy principals and heads of departments.
EUSA spokesperson Issac Scelo Bhengu expressed concern that it was becoming a “trend within communities to appoint incompetent people into SGB positions because of their popularity for making the biggest noise during community protests”.
“Bearing in mind that schools are academic institutions, people without an academic qualification would not be capable of making these crucial appointments,” he said.
Bhengu said the reality was that in some communities few people had academic qualifications, but the nurses and teachers who did should be encouraged to apply for SGB positions.
Other teachers’ unions expressed disgust and embarrassment that a teachers’ union would make such a statement.
