Maximising Rural Education Stakeholder Participation through the Use of Information Communication

Abstract

There are multiple references in the relevant education regulations globally to explain why stakeholder participation is necessary for schools. South Africa’s democracy through the South African Schools Act (RSA, 1996) has created a need for stakeholders to participate in the decision-making processes in the schools in the country. However, rural schools seem to be less favoured by government education policies, leading to reluctance in stakeholder participation. Isa et al. (2019) posit that the lack of limited stakeholder participation in rural schools is the result of a lack of the necessary infrastructure, such as teaching aids, a conducive atmosphere, and other necessary components to improve teaching and learning. The effects of Covid-19, especially in the rural communities, influenced the writing of this chapter. We identified the inability of rural stakeholders to participate in their usual activities such as meetings because only virtual collaborations were possible due to Covid-19 national lockdown. In line with the identified inability, this chapter problematises the gap created by digital illiteracy in the rural school communities and argues that information and communications technology (ICT) has the potential to maximise rural education stakeholder participation. Activities of school governing bodies (SGB s) and representations by teacher unions in almost all rural schools demonstrate the willingness of stakeholders to participate in rural education; however, this participation is insufficient. This chapter employs Donaldson and Preston’s (1995) stakeholder theory to explore the role of ICT in maximising the participation of stakeholders in rural education. We established an ICT stakeholder participation monitoring framework to assist rural education stakeholders to maximise their participation.