Exploring Parental Involvement in the Education of Their Children to Combat Truancy among Pastoralist Community Secondary Schools of North Eastern Tanzania

Abstract

This study was conducted in pastoralist community secondary schools of North Eastern Tanzania to ascertain the influence of parents' involvement in education in order to get rid of truancy which has been seen as an obstacle for their children to perform well in education.  Selection of the area of study was based on its unique characteristics whereas the community and parents in particular have tendencies of neglecting education of their children which rank the area among the leading truancy areas with low completion rates. This problem led to have communities that live in extreme poverty. Mixed methods procedure was used for collecting, analyzing, and mixing both quantitative and qualitative data. Data was collected concurrently by using questionnaires and through focus group discussion and then analyzed separately to compare the two databases to determine if there was convergence, difference, or some combination and then making conclusion. Eleven secondary schools in the area were involved in the study. The participants of the study altogether were two hundred and twenty (220) parents and six teachers from different schools.  Pilot study was conducted at other schools that portrayed same characteristics as those included in the study. Data was then computed through the use of One-way ANOVA technique to determine differences in variables. The findings indicated that in whatever circumstances, parents' involvement in the education of their children was of great importance. Participants of the study agreed altogether that there should be mutual relationships between parents and school (teachers) in order to raise academic performance of students.