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VII. Recommendations

To the national government of South Africa

- Devise strategies for the rapid conclusion of the outstanding agreements between the provincial departments of education and farm owners, and the fulfillment by provincial departments and farm owners of their obligations under these agreements and monitor their implementation.

- Amend the Schools Act to address the legal status of those farm schools that are presently not bound by a contractual agreement in terms of this Act.

- Develop guidelines on the conditions under which land can be expropriated for educational purposes under the Schools Act and the South African constitution.   These guidelines should consider the procedures necessary to establish whether expropriation is necessary in the public interest.

- Prioritize policies to ensure access to education for children living on commercial farms through adequate financing and planning.  Appropriate steps could include establishing a unit at the national Department of Education to focus on the management of farm schools and facilitate a forum for provincial departments of education to exchange best practices on the governance and management of farm schools and strategies to ensure that all children can access primary education. The unit could also convene a multi-sectoral forum, with farm owners, farmworkers, teachers and farm owners’ representative bodies, nongovernmental organizations and local government, to review the situation on farm schools and devise strategies for their improvement.  This unit should also maintain a database on farm schools.

- Consider the incorporation of state-provided transport as a cost in the national budgeting process for education. 

- Ensure that the monitoring and evaluative role of the national Office of the Rights of the Child in safeguarding the rights of children in government policies extends to the right to a primary education for children on farms.  

- Ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

To provincial governments

- Take concrete and enforceable steps to expedite the conclusion of the contractual agreements between provincial departments of education and farm owners.

- Meet the obligations set out in the contractual agreements with farm owners, including the maintenance of services and buildings, and the payment of rent.

- Ensure that school inspectors and management directors in the provincial departments of education make appropriate interventions where a farm owner obstructs access to a farm school, and establish effective liaison with the police service to enforce access where necessary. 

- Take steps to ensure that farm owners who deliberately obstruct access to schools on farms face appropriate sanctions, including rapid and effective interventions by school inspectors and management directors from the provincial departments of education, or by the police.

- Establish a focal point in the provincial department of education primarily responsible for matters arising from the governance and management of the farm school.  Co-ordinate the activities of inspectors and management directors at district level who will report to this focal point on matters pertaining to farm schools.

- Collect and maintain a register on the status of farm schools on commercial farms (as distinct from schools that may be located on farms in the former homelands) to ensure that there is adequate information available on which to base interventions to improve education in commercial farming areas.  The register should include information on the facilities and services provided and the condition of buildings, as well as on the number of children who require schooling.

- Implement stronger monitoring mechanisms for children seeking access to education in commercial farming areas to ensure their needs will be met, and on the condition of farm schools generally. 

- Strengthen supervision of teachers and school inspectors to ensure learners receive quality education and to respond timely to difficulties at farm schools.

- Inform teachers and parents of the status of the farm school, and in particular the content of the contractual agreement between the provincial department of education and farm owner.  Regularly educate school governing board members who comprise farm dwellers and farm owners of their roles and responsibilities in relation to the school.

- Take steps to provide transport for school-age children on commercial farms, whether by provincial or local government authorities, and to ensure the availability of water and power at schools.

To farm owners and their representative organizations

- Co-operate with the government to ensure a speedy conclusion of the outstanding contractual agreements with the provincial departments of education.

- Permit access to the school by pupils, teachers, parents, government authorities and members of the public who have a reasonable interest in the activities of the school as stipulated under the Schools Act.

- Inform lessees and managers of their obligations with regards to the school, and in particular to ensure that access to the school is not obstructed.

- Fulfill obligations under the contractual agreements with provincial governments, in particular those related to essential services such as water, power, and maintenance of buildings.

- Inform schools and provincial departments of education of a change of ownership or management on the property.