Internal Education Stakeholders’ Views on Parents Involvement in Public Secondary Schools’ Affairs in KilosaDistrict in Morogoro Region

Abstract

Within contemporary society,parents’ involvement in public school affairsis achallengedue to various factors. The present study sought to explore the internal educationstakeholders’ views on parentinvolvement in public secondary schools’ affairs. Specifically, the study aimed to: (i) assess the levels of parents’ awareness of involvement in school matters and (ii) explore factors inhibiting parental involvement in schoolaffairs. The study was conducted at Kisanga secondary school in Kilosa District. It adopted a mixed research approach with the convergent parallel design.It involved 110 participants who were selected through purposive andsimple random samplingtechniques. Data were collected through semi-structured interview guide, structured questionnaires and focus group discussion. The findings showedthat parents’ involvementin school affairs was poordespite the fact that they were aware of theschool meetings and other eventsschedules.The study further revealed that time limitations,variedperceptionstowards teachers, life hardship, lack of awareness on the education policy and parents’ negligence were factors responsible forpoor parents’involvement in public secondary schools’ affairs. Based on these findings, the study concludesthat the government and non-government organisations shouldoffer community education as a mitigation approach for effective parents’ involvement in public secondary schools’ affairs.Lastly,the study recommended to the government of Tanzania to collaborate with other partners through community education to create awareness to every individual citizen on the importance of parents’involvement in school affairs. Keywords:Parent, parents’ involvement, school affairs, stakeholders.