to them. They explained that the Education traditionally carried out these tasks but that it has decided to put these responsibilities on their shoulders. The principals pointed out that the ministry could have put together a central team which could work directly with the principals in order to address the problems of the schools faster and more efficiently. “We were trained to coordinate the education process and to guard the quality of the learning process. But now more administrative and technical tasks are being put on the shoulders of principals while we are already carrying a heavy workload,” said a principal who wished to remain anonymous. Education Minister Minister Dirk Currie recently announced that 25 schools were selected to participate in a pilot project which is aimed at letting principals are responsible for the maintenance of the school yards, the cleaning of the classrooms and the security. He explained that these principals will first be trained before being given their new responsibilities. Several principals made it clear that “this is not the right solution”. They explained that a special maintenance team team should be put together to stay in direct contact with the principals. “When the roof is leaking, when a toilet is clogged or when a school yard must be cleaned, we could then inform the team which could take immediate action. This way the principals can keep focusing on their core tasks namely the education process,” said a principal. The principals fear that the schools that have limited funds and a shortage of personnel will not be able to carry out the additional responsibilities accordingly.