Investigating the effectiveness of fundraising in the rural schools of Groot Letaba circuit in the Limpopo Province

Abstract

The Constitution, Act 108(1996:14) states that “everyone has the right to basic education”. This means that all the children of South Africa will be given education at primary level which will be funded by the state. The success, therefore, of both the nation and the state will depend on its education system.Historically, South African education is characterised by two eras of education systems, namely, apartheid education and democratic education. Apartheid education which was racially grounded resulted in poverty, degradation and imbalanced funding in black rural schools. The democratic principles in the new education system have created a space for the redress of inequality in South African schools. This is evidenced in the establishment of the school governing body (SGB) as the legitimate body to take the issue of “redress” forward(SASA, Act 84 of 1996). According to Section 36 of SASA, the state acknowledges its failure to provide sufficient funding to public schools, and mandated the SGB to obtain additional resources in order to improve the quality of education. The money allocated by the state to schools is clearly not enough.Many principals and SGBs are placed under tremendous pressure to manage and raise funds for their schools, because they are unable to work out practical solutions to financial problems, on account of their lack of financial knowledge, skills and expertise (Mestry, 2006:8). This study investigated the effectiveness of fundraising in the rural schools of Groot Letaba Circuit in Limpopo in order to find out whether fundraising is being done, different strategies employed and problems encountered in raising funds in unique rural public schoolsettings. The literature revealed that there are various fundraising strategies that may be used to raise money for schools to improve the quality of education. The study also focused on Potterton et al’s(2002)theory of formulation for successful fundraising. The theory discusses how school fundraising can be done through the partnerships of the following stakeholders: school community, members of the broader community and the business community. The methodology used in this study was a qualitative approach. Phenomenological research design was adopted; and in terms of the data collection tool, semi-structured (open-ended) interviewschedules for both the primary and secondary principals, SGB chairpersons and SGB treasurers.The findings of this study revealed that fundraising in the rural schools of Groot Letaba Circuit in Limpopo Province was not successfully done to cater for the needs of the schools. Recommendations and guidelines were given with the intention of eliminatingor minimising fundraising problems so that schools can function to their maximum potential.