DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2016.v04i04.004

Pages: 336-339

Parents play a crucial role in the development of schools. Efforts to encourage parents to participate in the development of schools have contributed to the Zimbabwean government coming up with statutory instruments that established School Development Committees (SDCs) and School Development Associations (SDAs) in both primary and secondary schools. Within the primary school set-up, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has introduced the Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme. The paper focuses on the role of parents in ECD programmes. It examines the concepts participation and involvement. It further explores the advantages of participation and involvement of parents in school issues. While the paper demonstrates that the two concepts are tenets of democracy, they have their own limitations when it comes to school governance issue. The major contributions noted are how parents contribute to the development of the school, how teachers learn pupils’ cultures through interaction with the community and the benefits that accrue to the pupils which contribute to their personal development. However, the paper also notes that the problems of inequality and inequity may not be addressed as the gaps between communities may be reflected in the different schools. The paper concludes that the participation and involvement of parents in school work benefits the school, teachers, pupils and the community at large in many ways.