Establishing the extent to which schools involve communities in the provision of education in Chirumanzu Central Circuit schools

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which community involvement contributes to the promotion of high educational standards in Chirumanzu Central Circuit Schools in Zimbabwe. The population was made up of all the headteachers, teachers and parents in the 25 schools in the circuit. The respondents were selected using purposive sampling and were made up of (5) school heads, 15 teachers and 10 members of the School Development Committees (SDCs), giving a total of 30 participants.  The gender composition of the participants was 55% male and 45% female.  The study adopted the descriptive survey design and the questionnaire was used as the only instrument for collecting data. This contained both close-ended and open-ended questions.  The study revealed that community involvement in educational issues was limited to parents or guardians of pupils currently attending school in the district. In other words, it leaves behind the rest of the members of the community. The study also established that schools are not exploiting the potentialities presented by their proximity communities in order to tap on the resources and knowledge from the community members. The study recommends that there be total involvement of the community towards the provision of adequate infrastructure, books, right culture and other learning materials.