With International Mother Language Day being celebrated this Friday (21 February 2020), it is fitting that the Federation of Governing Bodies of South Africa (FEDSAS) is launching the Afrikaans edition of the updated publication Governance in public schools: A guide to the application of the King principles in public schools (Beheer in openbare skole: ? Handleiding oor die toepassing van die King-beginsels in openbare skole). This is an initiative of FEDSAS, the FEDSAS Institute for School Governance and IoDSA (Institute of Directors in South Africa).

“We are very excited to launch the updated version in Afrikaans as well,” says Dr Jaco Deacon, Deputy CEO of FEDSAS.

This year’s theme for International Mother Language Day is “languages without borders” in order to recognise to the role of language and cultural diversity in strengthening social cohesion.

“For FEDSAS it is important to equip members of governing bodies with knowledge to improve their expertise. It is scientifically proven that people are able to process and retain knowledge better in their mother tongue. FEDSAS aims to make information available in as many languages as far as possible. For example, another FEDSAS publication, A practical guide to school governance, is already available in all 11 official languages.”

Deacon says the second edition of the publication on the King principles focuses specifically on best practice and strengthening good governance in schools. “FEDSAS encourages members to move away from the idea that school governance should simply be compliance with the minimum legal requirements. Good governance goes further and the focus should be on creating space for the application of good principles.”

As with most FEDSAS publications, this publication is also available as an e-book on the Snapplify platform. Users can type “FEDSAS” in the search function in order to find the list of FEDSAS e-books.