Extent of Community Participation in the Provision of School Plant in the Administration of Public Secondary Schools in Enugu State

Abstract

The study examined the extent of community participation in the provision of school plant in the administration of public secondary schools in Enugu State. One research question and one null hypothesis guided the study. Descriptive survey research design employing simple random sampling was used to sample 7211 of all the principals and classroom teachers from both rural and urban schools in Enugu State: Out of which 702 respondents responded to the study. The instrument used for data collection was questionnaire. The questionnaire was face validated by experts in the field of education, a reliability co-efficient of 0.73 was obtained using croanbach alpha method of determining internal consistency of the instrument. The research question was answered using mean and grand mean while the hypothesis was tested using t-test statistics. The result revealed that the extent of community participation in the provision of school plant in public secondary schools in Enugu State was low. Significant differences did not exist in the mean perception scores of principals and teachers regarding the extent of community participation in provision of school plant in the public secondary schools in Enugu State. It was recommended among other things that regular interactive programmes for instance radio-link and meet the people-tour should be conducted for both the principals and community representatives, the need for provision of school plant in schools.

Initiatives Required by Stakeholders in Provision of School Plant in Primary Schools in Enugu Education Zone

“…The study found out that 8 initiatives were required from stakeholders, they include donation of zinc, sand, nails, wood, chairs desks, tables and others. The findings were in agreement with the findings of Okoro in Okenwa & Igbo (2013), who found out that zinc, sand, nails wood, football, basketball valley ball kits, building of assembly, examination and classroom halls are the responsibilities of PTA to provide for schools. The findings of the study were also in conformity with Alu et al (1997), that assembly halls, and classroom blocks are the responsibilities of stakeholders to provide for schools.…”

School and community partnership in promoting elementary education: A case study of union council Chountra, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

“…Community support and partnership in facilitating schools in the provision of books, furniture, and funds were also missing. It is confirmed by the studies conducted by Gregoric (2013); Okenwa & Igbo (2013); Epstein (2010); Aguba (2009); Okwor (2008); Cole (2007) that efficient functioning of primary schools without parental and Community Partnership (CP) is not possible. The Well-being, education, and proper development of a child depends on the engagement of the community that is missing in the primary schools of Pakistan.…”

“…According to Epstein (2010), when SCs are in existence for three years and supported with training, they increase the community involvement in school and thus influence the quality and quantity of family and community connections in the school. The schools are representative of the community and a positive relationship between the both has utmost importance for their development (Cole, 2007;Okenwa & Igbo, 2013;Okwor, 2008). The same type of situation has been identified in some Asian and African countries where policies and program initiatives exist only on paper not on the ground (World Bank, 2006).…”

“…Communities are primary educators which influence a child's growth in terms of learning and development during the school years and later period of life. Effective parental and Community Partnership (CP) with schools, facilitate utilization of scattered and multi-dimensional communal resources for the wellbeing, education, and proper development of a child (Gregoric, 2013;Epstein, 2010;Okenwa & Igbo, 2013;Aguba, 2009;Okwor, 2008;Cole, 2007). CP in primary school's academic, financial, and administrative management promotes social capital, greater assistance in academic activities, contribution in school committees, increase in fundraising, provision of logistics facilities (transportation, building, classroom equipment's, furniture, and academic expertise), and address several problems (Tolbert & Theobald, 2006), Schools with a low level of CP show poor results and decision making, failure in developing inclusive plans (Prew, 2009;Tolbert & Theobald, 2006).…”

“…Lack of CP in primary school functioning negatively influences the quality of education and consequently enhances the rate of dropout. As a result, many primary-age children are out-ofschool in the majority of Asian and African countries (Okenwa & Igbo, 2013;Okwor, 2008;Cole, 2007). According to the 2017 Global Education Monitoring report, there are 16 million children who do not have access to primary education, and in sub-Sahara Africa, only 59% of children complete their primary education.…”