1. Section 11(1) of the South African Schools Act (SASA), 1996 (Act 84 of 1996) states that a representative council of learners (RCL) must be established at every public school enrolling learners in Grade 8 and higher.

2. The Act also places the RCL as the official learner representative structure in every public school with learners from Grade 8 and higher. Schools are urged to promote the RCL as the statutory structure that each school must have.

3. The RCL is an important structure for building the capacity of learners and developing youth leadership skills at schools. Teacher liaison officers (TLOs) are requested to ensure that the skills of RCL members are enhanced through relevant and appropriate leadership training initiatives and programmes.

4. The training of the newly elected RCLs should commence from 01 February 2016.

5. Election period
5.1 In order to ensure that the RCLs begin to function as early as possible in 2017, it is recommended that the RCL elections for 2017 take place between 01 October 2016 and 31 January 2017.
5.2 Principals are alerted to the fact that the occupancy period runs parallel to the academic year. Schools are encouraged to prepare the new Grade 8 learners properly before they participate in the elections in January of a specific year.

6. The school electoral team
6.1 A school electoral team must be formed to ensure early planning for a successful RCL election.
6.2 School electoral teams are encouraged to develop their own advocacy strategies to encourage learners to participate in the elections and to ensure that capable candidates are elected. Advocacy strategies include the dissemination of criteria for choosing suitable learner members.

7. After the election of the new RCL
7.1 Principals must ensure that a proper hand-over process is followed from the outgoing RCL to the incoming RCL.
7.2 As part of its capacity building, the newly elected RCL must undergo an induction process facilitated by the District RCL Coordinator.
7.3 Principals are encouraged to arrange inauguration ceremonies. This could be done in several ways, e.g. at a school assembly, at a special event attended by parents.
7.4 Principals must ensure that, in compliance with the SASA, two RCL members are elected to serve on the school governing body.
7.5 Annexure A is a summary sheet on which details of newly elected RCLs are to be entered. Schools are kindly requested to complete this annexure and send it to the district RCL Co-ordinator on or before 12 February 2017

8. Should schools have any enquiries about RCL elections, they may contact the appropriate district RCL co-ordinator listed below:

  • Metro East District: Ms Mary Joan-Swartz, tel. 021 900 7000/7253
  • Metro South District: Ms Reginald Dreyer, tel. 021 374 4107
  • Metro North District: Mr David Leonard, tel. 021 938 3170
  • Metro Central District: Ms Anusha Naidoo, tel. 021 514 6700/6716
  • Cape Winelands District: Mr Fred Josias, tel. 023 348 4600
  • West Coast District: Mr Tommy Loriston, tel. 021 860 1200
  • Overberg District: Mr Mike Kobus, tel. 028 214 7368
  • Eden & Central Karoo District: Ms Sinovuyo Stofile, tel. 044 803 8300/8315
9. Please bring the content of this minute to the attention of all concerned.


SIGNED: T MATSELISO
DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL: INSTITUTION DEVELOPMENT & CO-ORDINATION
DATE: 2016:09:09

South African Schools Act (SASA), 1996 (Act 84 of 1996)  (size: 255 KB)
Annexure A: Representative Council of Learners (RCLs) for the year 2017  (size: 28 KB)