Fellow: Vusi Godfrey Ndukuya

Grant Year: 2020

Location: Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa

Organization: Junior Citizens Southern Africa (JCSA)

Project title: Nomfundo 100

Project summary: More than 55% of students who are parents in Gauteng schools are young women, yet school governing bodies tend to be comprised of older male members of the community. Although the Children’s Act and the South African Schools Act established the legal right for children and youth to be a part of governance structures within the institutions that serve them, school governance still lags behind and often limits the participation of students in these structures. In order to promote gender equity and amplify the voices of female students on school governance boards, JCSA is advocating for Gauteng’s Member of the Executive Council for Education to issue a formal addendum to the National South African Schools Act (1996) by instituting a 50% quota for representation of in-school girls between the ages of 14-18 on the Gauteng High School Governing Body by August 2021. This addendum will allow female secondary students to become key decision-makers in the school planning, governance, and decision-making across Gauteng schools. Ensuring that female representation is prioritized in the more than 2,800 schools across Gauteng Province will help protect the rights of more than one million school girls.