Implementation of Batho Pele principles in an educational district office

Abstract

The aim of the article is to evaluate the extent to which the eight Batho Pele principles in the Batho Pele White Paper are implemented when officials deliver administrative services to internal customers in an educational district in Limpopo Province, South Africa. All the officials (N=52) and a random sample of educators (N=50) drawn from the educational district participated in the study. A custom-made questionnaire was administered to the two groups of respondents. The internal consistency of the questionnaire is satisfactory (coefficient Alpha = 0.94). The majority of respondents in both groups perceived the implementation of the principles as problematic (educators - all eight principles; officials - Consultation, Service Standards, Courtesy, Openness and Transparency, and Redress). However, their perceptions differ significantly on Access, Redress and Value for Money. Interventions should be implemented to train and motivate officials to comply with the principles in their dayto- day service delivery. The findings of the study demonstrated the importance of conducting research in individual educational districts to raise the awareness of decision-makers higher up in the hierarchy with regard to the shortfall in service delivery at grass roots level. Further research is needed to evaluate the implementation of the Batho Pele principles in other educational districts.