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South Africa’s education system cannot get stronger while governance is weak

Jonathan Molver
By Jonathan Molver
31 Jul 2024
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The ideological debate regarding the ‘privatisation of public education’ is a distraction. We should be spending our time debating how we provide access to quality education to every child in South Africa, irrespective of their background or income bracket.

This is Part 3 in a three-part series on school governance. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.


South Africa’s education system is teetering on the brink, with weak governance a key contributing factor. Strengthening parental and state capacity is critical to sustained and incremental improvements in school governance – but it is going to take time that our children do not have.

To mitigate this and catalyse our efforts to build system capacity, we should consider adopting a third and more innovative approach – developing public-private partnership (PPP) frameworks that strengthen governance and management.

By co-opting skilled individuals, scaling effective collaboration models, and leveraging existing legislation to better support independent schools, we can radically increase access to quality education.

Thirty years into democracy, 62% of school governing bodies (SGBs) are dysfunctional due to poor policy design and implementation. While the South African Schools Act (Sasa) gave parents a voice in education, privileged parents have thrived in ‘Model C’ schools, while less privileged parents have struggled or misused their power.

The same act stipulates that these parents are supposed to be supported by provincial education departments that are meant to provide training, support and oversight to all SGBs, ensuring they govern schools effectively. 

Limited resources, rapidly ageing and increasingly irrelevant policies, corruption and cadre deployment have ensured that this support is at best weak and more often than not entirely non-existent. 

Confronted by chronically corrupt and underperforming SGBs, the former minister and her team opted to amend Sasa via the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill, radically reducing the powers bestowed on SGBs in a bid to take control and improve performance.

A number of the reforms proposed are necessary and should go ahead. In a government with high capacity, a high-performance culture, and a track record of success, nearly all of the amendments would make sense. But in our context, a number of them do not.

Training parents and building provincial education department capacity will take time. And time is something that our children do not have. If we are going to radically improve access to quality education for all, we need to consider alternative governance models that will catalyse capacity building and significantly strengthen the system.

The South African education system simply has to begin developing fit-for-purpose public-private partnership frameworks that leverage the significant resources, capacity and know-how that the private sector and civil society can add to the governance and management of schools.

Based on current legislative frameworks, three options can be considered and implemented with almost immediate effect.

Co-option of members


Current policy allows for the co-option of voting and non-voting members to the SGB. Co-opted voting members serve for a limited period of 90 days in the event of an elected member’s departure, while co-opted non-voting members are appointed for the full term based on their expertise.

This model presents an immediate opportunity for individuals and organisations within the private sector and civil society to do more than volunteer or donate money. It offers an opportunity to play a significant role in school improvement by serving on the SGB.

As co-opted members hold no voting rights, it would be prudent for partnerships of this nature to be supported by department-regulated contracts with agreed-upon performance indicators, with accountability for quality outcomes applicable to both the SGB and co-opted members.

Collaboration schools


Collaboration schools partner with non-profit school support organisations who are granted 50% of governing body votes. The Western Cape Education Department oversees school performance and holds both the school and operating partner accountable within the public education system. After seven years, this model is showing signs of success despite initial resistance.

Dumalisile High School in the Eastern Cape has seen sustained improvements from a 39% NSC pass rate in 2016 to 81% in 2023. Silikamva and Apex High Schools in the Western Cape recorded 93% and 95% NSC pass rates respectively last year, as well as bachelor pass rates of 55%.

These Public School Partnerships schools, based in highly impoverished communities, not only outperformed the national average but also outperformed privileged quintile 5 and independent schools. What makes these results even more impressive is that their dropout rates between Grade 10 and matric were also well below the national average.

Legislative reforms in 2018 support this model, which was recently upheld in court despite challenges from Sadtu and Equal Education. Given the education system’s significant funding and capacity constraints and the underlying governance issues we face, national government should consider adopting this model more broadly.

100% subsidy


A third option to mitigate for limited governance capacity is to outsource it entirely.

Sasa allows provincial education departments to subsidise low-fee independent schools that meet a set of criteria. Subsidies are paid on a five-point scale, depending on the school’s fee level and socioeconomic circumstances. Schools that charge fees more than 2.5 times the provincial average estimate per learner are not eligible for the subsidy.

This section in the act sets a precedent for the state to effectively outsource the provision of public education to donor-funded no-fee schools, and low-fee private schools – thereby increasing access to affordable quality education for all and providing a neat solution for the funding, resourcing and capacity constraints the public system faces.

Of course, the major challenge we face here is the ideological debate regarding the ‘privatisation of public education’. This debate is a distraction. We should be spending our time debating how we provide access to quality education to every child in South Africa, irrespective of their background or income bracket.

We’re more than happy to contract private companies to provide printers, laptops, swimming pools and astro turfs in our quest for quality. Why do we rush to the moral high ground the moment someone suggests we do the same for governance, leadership and management?

With the right regulatory mechanisms in place, we can ensure that private school operators are incentivised to focus on learner outcomes instead of the bottom line.

How schools are governed will more often than not determine how well they are run, which in turn will determine how much children learn. 

South Africa’s education system cannot get stronger while governance is weak. 

Motivate and incentivise


We need to create frameworks that motivate and incentivise private operators to support the governance and management of public schools.

A major benefit of models like these is that they have the potential to simultaneously increase capacity and reduce the burden on the state. Yes, the introduction of private actors requires that the public sector adequately resources itself, building the right commissioning and regulatory processes to ensure that the right organisations are selected and properly regulated.

But this model is far more effective than what is being proposed in the Bela Bill. Furthermore, it offers increased agility, flexibility and responsiveness – key ingredients for the innovation and learning we need if we’re going to radically improve outcomes in South Africa.

Each of us has something to offer. 

Civil society and corporates – find a failing school close to home and offer to partner in your capacity as a co-opted SGB member.

Politicians and government officials – be brave. Tackle corruption and Sadtu head-on. 

Build innovative frameworks and regulations that will mobilise and regulate the private sector’s engagement in education.

Together, let’s be bold, and put the children of South Africa first. They’re our hope and our future. It’s our responsibility to give them both. DM

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