PurposeThe purpose of this article is to investigate the effectiveness of accountability mechanisms employed in financial management practices of school principals in the Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Education. The strengths and weaknesses of the systems and mechanisms of the processes to hold school principals accountable are explored in detail in this study. The argument that this article seeks to advance is that accountability of the school principal to the school governing body (SGB) does not yield the best results in terms of efficiency. It creates a loose arrangement in terms of which the school principal takes part in financial mismanagement in schools.Design/methodology/approachData collection was made through semi-structured interviews whose purpose was to draw experiences from SGBs, particularly the finance committees who are in fact the sub-committees of the SGBs; as well as literature review. The finance committee is made up of the chairperson of the SGB, the secretary of the SGB, the treasurer of the SGB, and the financial officer who is a clerk responsible for the keeping and the management of financial records of the school. The process started with semi-structured interviews, then transcribing, coding, developing themes, making meaning of the themes and subsequently developing a principle.FindingsMechanisms employed by schools and the Department of Education to hold principals accountable for their financial management practices fail to make them fully accountable and effectively face the consequences of acts on their part that are illegal and unlawful. The mechanisms need a great deal of overhauling. The argument that this article seeks to advance is that this account of the school principal to the SGB does not yield the best results in terms of efficiency. It creates a loose arrangement in terms of which the school principal easily gets away with a crime when financial mismanagement occurs in the school.Research limitations/implicationsParticipants could possibly not be comfortable and willing, to tell the truth as it is. Participants might have the fear that telling the truth could land them in trouble with the law. Whilst participants were assured by the researchers of their anonymity and the confidentiality of the information given by them, there was no guarantee that the fear of being exposed would subdue completely. There was also a possibility that some participants would not be willing to say the truth as it is for fear of being victimised by other participants for exposing the status quo in their schools.Practical implicationsThe findings and recommendations from this study may be used by the Department of Basic Education as a source of information for policymakers and stakeholders to understand the effectiveness of their mechanisms to ensure the accountability of school principals on issues of financial management. On the basis of this study, policymakers will then be able to revisit their policies for the purpose of strengthening them. The principal is therefore responsible for the day-to-day administration and management of school funds because of this mandatory delegation. However, when things go wrong, it is the SGB that is held liable.Social implicationsSchool principals hold dual accountability in terms of which they are accountable to the employer only in so far as their professional responsibilities are concerned on financial management in the first instance. They are by no means accounting officers in schools. In the second instance, they are fully accountable to the SGB for issues relating to financial management. Section 16A of SASA lists the functions and responsibilities for which the principal as an employee of the Department of Basic Education, and in his official capacity as contemplated in Sections 23(1) and 24(1) (j) of the same Act, is accountable to the head of department (HOD).Originality/valueThe study provides a theoretical and empirical contribution to the existing literature on the effectiveness of the mechanisms employed to ensure the accountability of school principals in their financial management practices in schools. It offers practical recommendations putting in place mechanisms that effectively hold school principals wholly accountable for their financial management practices in schools. Most of the time, it is easy for the principal to get away with a crime even in instances where he or she is called upon to account for alleged financial mismanagement.

The purpose of the article is to explore the faults that exist in the laws governing the appointment of school principals in schools in South Africa. The article advances an argument that there are numerous flaws in the laws that regulate the appointment of school principals in schools. The article will contribute to the revision and strengthening of the laws that are used in the appointment of school principals. Some sections of South African Schools Act 9) SASA regulate the appointment of school principals and are used to militate against the good intentions of the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to have the best suitable candidates appointed as school principals. The appointment processes of educators in schools are seen as fraught with fraud and corruption. A report emerged in the year 2016 that the process of selecting candidates for appointment in the Education Sector is riddled with inconsistencies. The report emanated from the probe by a Ministerial Task Team into allegations of selling of teachers’ posts. Principals should be selected by means of experienced panels inclusive of a DBE representative. It was recommended that Cadre Deployment be done away with. The appointment of candidates as principals was supposed to be made purely on the basis of merit in terms of the report.

Purpose -The purpose of this article was to navigate and investigate the causes, manifestations, and ramifications of suicides committed by students in South African Schools; more especially in so far as how these impact the wellness of school communities (parents, teachers, non-teaching staff, and students themselves) in schools affected.Design/Methodology/Approach -The methodology that was used in the study is the Qualitative Research Methodology. Data collection and analysis were done through Literature Review by examining print media reports, journal articles, and data from published works of other researchers around the world. The approach adopted was the interpretive approach. The aim in using this approach was to explore and understand what the causative factors of suicides committed by pupils in schools are, in the world in general and in South Africa in particular. It was also to further establish what the ramifications of the suicides are in the emotional wellness of pupils and school communities affected. Ultimately, the purpose was also to come up with strategies that could be employed to circumvent the occurrence and adverse effects of suicides committed by students in schools, first on students themselves, and secondly, on school communities in general.Interpretation is the most challenging part of qualitative research (Bakhshi, Weisi, and Yousofi 2019). Data must be interpreted on the basis of data collected to produce theories. Most of the questions that the researcher in this study needed to answer to interpret data were the 'why', the 'how', and the 'what' questions. Answers to these questions had to be tested for their trustworthiness through triangulation. Triangulation is described as an approach where the researcher uses either multiple methods, several theories, or different data sources -in time and space (Jentoft and Olsen 2019). By using triangulation, researchers have an opportunity to gain a better and broader understanding of the phenomena under investigation. The use of different methods and sources of data collection helps to support a finding by showing that independent measures agree with it, or at least, do not contradict it. This is the strategy that the researcher used in this study to interpret data. Finally, to ensure the trustworthiness of the interpretations, the researcher in this study compared the results and ideas as they came up from sources of available literature, media reports, Journal Articles, and published works of other researchers on the topic at hand to come up with recommendations. Findings -The finding from this study is that the prevalence and gravity of suicides committed by students and the effects thereof, on the wellness of students in schools in South Africa, are