The relationship between the community and the school in a rural area.

The focus of this research is the relationship between the community and the High School in rural areas. The strenuous relationship is addressed as a contributory factor towards learners’ poor performance at school. Rural areas constitute of several communities, which interacts with one another within a larger community. Particular attention is given to how several communities interact with the school in rural areas. It is the opinion of the researcher that every effort should be concentrated in bringing together all these communities and the school, to put into practice the concept of “tirisano”. The method used in this research is two-fold: Firstly it contains a literature study on the relationship between the community and the school. The researcher used this information to support his investigation and to make results based on factual information. Secondly, it contains information derived from the interviews. With the information derived from the interviews, the researcher was able to derive the respondents’ opinions on why the relationship is strenuous. The study recommends that learners should try their level best to improve this performance and to put the image of the school to where it belongs. Teachers should do the best job of teaching as possible and should involve other stakeholders like the church, business sector, political sector and the community at large. The study further recommends that the concept of “tirisano” and “ubuntu” should be seen being effectively implemented by the community and the school in rural areas.Dr. M.C. Van Loggerenber