ABSTRACT
The main aim of this study was to investigate the
extent to which communities in the Gomoa East District participate in improving
basic education delivery. Specifically, the study looked at the activities that
communities perform and the extent to which they engage in those activities to
improve access, infrastructure development and academic performance, as well as
ensuring effective monitoring and supervision. The sampled respondents
consisted of basic school heads and teachers, School Management Committee,
Parent Teacher Association and Unit Committee executives. Respondents were
selected using the random sampling approach and questionnaire used as
instrument for primary data collection. The study showed that community members
were aware of the need to participate in the provision of basic education and
saw their participation as very significant to improving education delivery.
However, they had little knowledge on the specific roles they needed to play in
the school to improve education delivery. The study also revealed that lack of
understanding of educational issues, poor communication and lack of resources
and time on the part of parents and community members in general were major
setbacks to participation in education delivery in the area. This study also
notes that the top three ways of improving education delivery were using local
language at meetings, informing community members about positive things
happening in the school and ensuring effective communication between the school
and the community by involving community members in decision making about the
school.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Education is generally considered a
key factor in the economic, political and social development of any nation.
Over the years, it has become apparent that basic education generates
substantial positive benefits to the pupils and the society in general (Abdinoor,
2008). It enhances the reasoning ability of the individual, increases the
number of skilled human resource, national productivity and fosters good
governance, which will ultimately lead to the overall economic growth of a
country. Education in Ghana at the different levels namely, basic, secondary
and the tertiary gives attention to human capital development; clearly this
tends to result in economic development.
Basic education is not only
compulsory in Ghana, but a right for all citizens in the country, and it is the
responsibility of the parent as well as the community as a whole to make sure
that children of school going age attend school to acquire the basic skills,
knowledge, values and attitude which will shape them for life. Even though the
school lays the foundation for the skills, knowledge, values and attitudes to
be acquired, and talents to be nurtured for the development of the nation, this
can only be achieved through effective collaboration between the state,
parents, the community as well as the teachers.
Investing in people’s education is
becoming more important for future economic growth. It also helps a nation to
depend less on its depleting natural
resources by promoting individual development, which in turn gives people the
ability to escape hunger and poverty (Abdinoor, 2008).
It is without doubt that, any
country, which is unable to develop the skills and knowledge of its people and
to utilize them effectively in the national development, will be unable to
develop anything else. This is because improving the capacity of people through
education enable them to exploit and utilize other resources effectively and
efficiently; thus, helps to end hunger and poverty through the reduction of
unemployment and acceleration of economic growth. Therefore, there is the need
for community schools stakeholders to understand the relevance of education and
collaborate with the government and other relevant agencies for the education
of the younger generation (Namphande, 2007). Consequently, the provision of
quality education to children cannot be overemphasized.
This need has resulted in making
educators, policymakers and others involved in education to seek ways for the
efficient utilization of limited resources, and to identify and solve problems
in the education sector. Their efforts have contributed to realizing the
significance and benefits of community participation in education, and have
recognized community participation as one of the strategies to improve educational
access, infrastructure, management, supervision and performance (Uemura,
1999a).
There is growing interest to
improve education delivery in developing countries through community
participation (Stiglitz. 2002; Mansuri & Rao, 2012). Many countries have created
local institutions, such as school committees and Parent Teacher Associations
to coordinate this. However, it has been recently revealed that some of these
institutions fail to live up to
their mandate (Duflo, Dupas, & Kremer, 2012). They pointed out that
community participation is not something new in the delivery of education
neither is it a panacea to solve complex education related problems. In fact,
not all communities, in the past, have played a passive role in children’s
education, the authors stressed. Backing this assertion, Williams (1994)
stresses that, until the middle of the last century, responsibility for
educating children rested with communities. Although there are still places
where communities organize themselves to operate schools for their children
today, community participation in education delivery according to Ahwoi, (2010)
has not fully gain root in several communities.
Article 7 of the World Declaration
on Education for All that emerged from the World Conference on Education for
All (WCEFA), which was held in Jomtien, Thailand, in 1990, states that
“national, regional and local educational authorities have a unique obligation
to provide basic education for all, but they cannot be expected to supply every
human, financial or organizational requirement for this task” (World Conference
on Education for All [WCEFA], 1990). New and revitalized partnerships at all
levels will be necessary: partnerships among all sub-sectors and forms of
education; partnerships between government and non-governmental organizations,
the private sector, local communities, religious groups and families (WCEFA,
1990).
Because basic learning needs are
complex and diverse, meeting them require multi-sectorial strategies and actions
which are integral to overall development efforts. Many partners must join with
the education authorities.....
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