Abstract:

Public schools, local districts and provincial education departments in South Africa are under resourced and additional income will assist the schools to improve education structures in schools. School principals, in South Africa, are constantly exploring avenues to add revenue to a school’s annual income. The dispensing of food, from the tuck shop, has become one such avenue principals pursue for additional funds.

To assess the role of the school principal in the school tuck shop in managing school finances.
Ten Secondary schools in a specific district (Ekhuruleni, Gauteng, South Africa), were visited. South African communities are filled with people with varying cultural and belief systems and this is well established in the research, as are the socio-economic differences within South African communities.

Ten school principals in a specific district in Gauteng, South Africa were interviewed.

Ten principals, as leaders within the school communities, allowed the researcher to review the complexities of the situation that they need to deal with. The schools, primary as well as secondary schools, which were evaluated, varied in terms of cultural composition and quintile ratings. Both schools with Afrikaans and/or English as first language mediums were visited. All schools, by no coincidence, were coeducational (boys and girls) schools.
Intentional or purposeful sampling was utilised, in the completion of the research.

The use of observations, documents and interviews contributed to the process of qualitative research. During the interview process, with the school principals, a set of generic questions was used. The interviewer was able to include additional, impromptu questions to complete the relevant sections and to allow for an elaboration and extension of a particular question where necessary.

Many of the principals acknowledged the reason for having a school tuck shop was to assist with the raising of funds for the school as encouraged by department legislation (SASA Section 36: 1996). There was evidence that financial targets were being set, by the principal and the governing body, for the tuck shop proprietors or those running the tuck shop for the school, as part of the agreement with the school.

Additional finances are sorely needed to acquire materials to benefit education in the respective schools.The responses from the principals indicated that all schools visited presently deal differently with their tuck shops. Principals must be assisted in the pursuit of additional finance and an improved education environment. Additional legislation could add to an already stressful education environment. However, a national policy pertaining to the management of the tuck shop needs to be established. A sound financial relationship, with the school tuck shop, must exist within the school structure.

Keywords:

Improve education structures, socio-economic differences within South African communities, school finances, school principal, managing, dispensing of food.