Participation of Parents in the Administration of Students for Integral Education: a Case of Dar Es Salaam Day Secondary Schools

This study was done in Dar es Salaam to find out whether or not parents encouraged their day school children to do learning activities at home and sharing of educational issues. It also aimed at finding out the degree of co-operation between parents and teachers. Lastly, it intended to find out the role of the government in nurturing home learning spirit through its policies and circulars. Questionnaire and interview schedules were administered involving 145 respondents. One hundred and nine respondents were form five day school students,S Heads of School, Chief Education Officer, Executive Secretary of Tanzania Parents Association and 29 parents in Dar es Salaam whose children of form five were involved in this study. Literature review covered related issues from across the world. However, emphasis was made on information from Tanzania and specifically, Dar es Salaam Region. Four research questions were formulated based on the literature covered and the emerging gaps . Findings showed that parents in Dar es Salaam are challenged by not having sufficient time to share with their children after school hours and on non-school days. Sixty two percent of the form five day students spent less than one hour in a week sharing with their parents on educational issues, feelings, school reports and future plans while 32.1% never had an opportunity of doing that. On major family events, 75.2% of the students never saw their teachers invited. This measured the relational gap between parents and teachers. Sixty percent of the Heads of School did not know any government statement, which required all parents to be responsible for promoting education and life skills for their children. The conclusion was that leaving a day school student in the hands of teachers alone is to risk education enterprise. Finally, it was recommended that every school should establish Parents' Day and Parent-Teacher Association for greater co-operation. Parents should be models of reading specifically reading for study habits and makers of the famil