A COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN EDUCATION

INTRODUCTION

A COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN EDUCATION

A community participation in education is not new. Before discussing the ways of community participation in education, it is important to discuss what community is in terms of educational points of view.  Communities can be defined by characteristics that members share, such as culture,v language, tradition, law, geography, class and race.  Some communities are homogeneous while others are heterogeneous and some unitedv while others conflictive. Some communities are governed and managed by leaders chosen democratically who act relatively autonomously from other levels of government, and some are governed by leaders imposed form above and represent central authorities.  Community participation in education viewed as an effective means of promotingv education both in qualitative and qualitative terms.  Community is a group structure, whether formally or informally organized, in whichv member’s plays roles which are integrated around goals associated with the problems from collective occupation and utilization of habitudinal space, second, members of the community have some degree of collective identification with the occupied space. Lastly, the community has a degree of local autonomy and responsibility.  The third one is communities based on shared family or educational concerns, whichv include parents association and similar bodies that are based on families shared concern for the welfare of students.

Ø  The term participation can be interpreted in various ways depending on the context that clarifies different degrees or level of participation, and provides possible definition of the term, including

Ø  Involvement through the mere use of a service (such as enrolling children in school or using a primary health care facility;

Ø  Involvement through contribution (or extraction) of money, materials and labors

Ø   Involvement through ‘attendance’ (e. g. At parent meeting at schools), implying passive acceptance of decisions made by others;

Ø  Participation in the delivery of a service, often as a partner with other actors;

Ø  Participation as implementers of delegated powers; and

Ø  Participation in ‘real decision making at every stage’, is including identification of problems, study of feasibility, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Activities that Involve Participation Further provides some specific activities that involve a high degree of participation in a wider development context, which can also be applied in the education sector, inducing:

.  Community people can play as an actor of promoting quality education in this sense.ü Successful schools build connections to parents and communities as a way to strengthen relationship in support of the students, and as a way to better understand students so that teaching can be tailored to them as individuals communities offer a wide range of resources that are valuable to school and the families they serve.

 Power to Community Members

• While increased community participation has been advocated as a way to improve the quality of public projects and services, evidence from randomized evaluations provides very mixed results about its effectiveness. While it is clear that the details and context matter for this type of program, some common themes about what works are beginning to emerge.

 Programs where the community had more direct control over service providers tended to work better.

 • Community involvement is more effective when people are given specific tasks and training: Training of school committees improved how these committees handled teachers accountable to them, in India a program that trained local volunteers to directly intervene in child learning was very successful. • The program that compared community participation to centralized monitoring through audits found centralized audits were more effective in reducing corruption. • Government programs have long incorporated mechanisms for local oversight, but there is little evidence on the effectiveness of these programs. Found that 92% of villagers in rural Uttar Pradesh India were not even aware of the existing Village Education Committee (VEC), which supposedly monitored teachers and administrators.

 • Working with the community on monitoring tools that revealed just how little children were learning at school, and informing the community of their rights to push for change prompted no increase activity by the community, no increased teacher effort and no improvement in education outcomes.  researchers and educators have long agreed that when parents get involved in education, children try harder and achieve more at school (e.g., Epstein, 1995). Parents who help and encourage their children to learn at home, and who help develop positive attitudes toward school, contribute to the personal growth and academic success of their children. Various approaches have been developed to help schools gain greater parent involvement. These approaches have several features in common: programs that focus on parenting skills and the development of home conditions that support learning; school-to-home and home-to-school communication about school programs and children's progress; the use of volunteers at school or in other locations to support the school and students; and participation by families in decision-making, governance, and advocacy (Bauch, 1994; D avies, 1991). These approaches, however, were not developed with rural communities in mind. R ural communities differ from urban and suburban ones, and they also differ from one another (F lora, Spears, & Swanson, 1992). Parent involvement programs for rural communities work best when they respond to particular features of the communities they serve. Beneficial Program Features Taking into account both the opportunities and challenges posed by conditions of rural life, educators can work to involve parents by setting up programs that include features with well documented, positive results (see, e.g., Bauch, 1994; Davies, 1991; Hinson, 1990; Swick, 1991).

 Among the features most often recommended are:

 • Parent enrollment in adult education and parenting education programs;

 • Cooperative strategies for extending the school curriculum beyond the school walls;

• Efforts to help parents provide learning experiences at home;

• Home visits by personnel trained to facilitate home-school communication;

 • In-classroom involvement of parents, business leaders, and citizens;

 • Summer enrichment programs for both parents and children;

 • Community-based learning; • use of school facilities for community activities; an • university participation in an advisory and supportive role. 

CONCLUSION 

  Programs that combine these features are indeed extensive, recognizing both strengths and weaknesses that parents may bring to partnerships with their children's schools. Such programs recognize that parenting improves when parents feel effective in a variety of adult roles. But they also take into account the fact that schooling improves when a variety of adults share their talents and model successful strategies of life management. Moreover, when community and business organizations have a visible presence in classroom life, students are more likely to see a meaningful connection between their studies and their eventual success in the workplace.

REFERENCES

Nyirenda, S.D and Ishumi A.G.(2006). Philosophy of Education: An introduction to concept, Principles and practices. Dar es salaam,Dar es salaam university press

De Arbodela, . (1991). ‘the Colombian Escuela Nueva Educational Expirience.’’ Bulletin/The Major project of Education in Latin America and Caribbean (International). No. 26:47-52 Decembe.

Craig, H (1996). Schools Count: World Bank Project Designs and the Quality of primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa. Washington, DC: The World Bank.

Fernando, R (1997). “ The Role of NGOs in Promoting Educational Innovation: A Case Study in Latin America”. In Education and Development: Tradition and Innovation. Volume Four, Non-Formal and Non- governmental Approaches. Edited by lynch, James; Celia Modgil and Sohan Modgil. London: Cassell

World Bank, (1995b). Madagascar: Towards a School-Based Strategy for Improving Primary and Secondary Education. Washington. DC: world Bank.

UNICEF, (1992). Strategies to Promote Girl Education: policies and programmes that work. New York: UNICEF.

Brieger, W.R (2006). Difinations of community. Johns Hopkins Blooberg School of public health