CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

This chapter handles the following issues; background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research questions, research hypothesis, significance of the study and definition of important terms.

Background Of The Study

The functions of education in Cameroon; as in other parts of the world, are many and varied. Education promotes the development and extension of our democratic beliefs, contributes to the realization of individual potentialities, and prepares the way for future progress and change. It transmits and perpetuates the cultural achievements of each generation as well as advancing the economic well-being of the nation. According to World Bank (1995:19), education is a major instrument for economic growth and social development.

Psacharopoulos (1987:423), also writes that ascertaining minimum level of educational provision is necessary to a country in order to better attain a reasonably high rate of economic growth. These are only a few of the many reasons why schools are organized. There are different ways of forging relationship between the schools and the community. Among the common ways, showing the interaction between school and community is parent teacher association. Successful parent teacher association can play a crucial role in promoting successful relationship between communities and school (Hamdan, Iqbal Lokman, 2013, P.379).

FDRE (1994:2) also stated that the main objective of any educational system is to cultivate the individual capacity for problem-solving and adaptability to the environment by developing the necessary knowledge, ability, skill and attitude. Schools are responsive to community expectations, suitable for learning, school administration and community participation. Community participation in educational affairs is one of the most important. Community participation is a process through which stakeholders share control over development initiatives Parent and Teacher Association (PTA) or in its new name Parent, Student and Teacher Association (PSTA) also running to achieve its objectives Bitch (2018. The preceding one does not include students at all and more of its view has focus on school administration. In addition, it does not have clear long and short-term objectives. Hence, the relationship between schools and society is not strong.

From the researchers, personal experience, in the Center Region most secondary school students seem like very reckless to their learning and their behavior is a strange one towards education. In other words when we look their parents’ role in the school program, they do not attend meetings even once a year that explains why we have low quality education in Cameroon. This indicates that the school’s Parent Teacher Association is weak in promoting quality education in Cameroon (Bitchil 2018) The school community interaction opens the opportunities for the school to see and understand the social, economic and political situation in the community that affects the instructional programs in the school. Moreover, it helps the school to look and use the human and material resources in the community interaction in order to promote quality education

Education takes place not only in schools but also within families, communities and the society as a whole. Despite the various degree of responsibility taken by each group, none can be the sole agent to take  full responsibility for children’s education as long as the children interact with the learning from the world outside their families (Bagin and Gallagher, 2001,)P.136) . PTA, as a representative of large community, has its own importance in addressing the problem of teaching learning process.

For various reasons that was studied in this research, the school administrators without the PTA or better still PSTA is unable to implement the duties and responsibilities indicated in the document. Educational management, Organization, community participation and finance guidelines (AREB, 2004,). It was not able to fully involve the PTA in general and parents in particular to assist and develop the teaching-learning process.

From the researcher’s experience, it shows that all school administrators have not been promoting quality education; the structure of the PTA has not been well functional too. Because the role of the PTA was undermined by school administrators and policy, the parents and students who are at the core of education are left out in decision making as far as school issues are concerned. They policy makers have not been willing to solve the problem encountered among the teachers and students and other related school issues. School administrators and policy makers have not played a decisive role for the establishment of good relationship between parents and schools, Students and teachers and so on, because of this; the school could not get appropriate supports and the needed educational outcome which is quality education.

Furthermore, the school administrators and policymakers have not facilitated community participation and PTA members have not been given the opportunity to participate in the decision-making and problem-solving process of the school. This shows that the school administrators have not developed a sense of partnership with the school.

Because of the above policy makers and school administrators’ weaknesses, the school has faced many challenges. Some of these are: lack of community support to the school, the interruption of the relationship between school and community. Because of this, the school is unable to promote and address quality education. For the society there has been; high dropout and repetition rate of students and, worsening behavioral problem of students and shortage of educational materials and others have become severe problems of the school, and the school runs its work alone without PTA’s support.

If this problem continues for a long time without giving remedial and permanent solutions, it may affect directly the students who learn at school. The students may not get appropriate knowledge, skill and ethics; Because of this, they cannot be competing with others. The problem may also bring a negative impact on the local community and the country’s economy. In addition to this, it affects the effort of the government and stake -holders to provide quality education for all.

Consequently the main agenda of this study targeted to examine the role of the PTA in improving quality education. Besides this, it was intended to forward possible solutions for the problem to alleviate the existing school problems and improve the quality of education

Problem Statement

Education takes place not only in schools but also within families, communities and society as a whole. Despite the various degree of responsibility taken by each group, none can be the sole agent to take full responsibility for children’s education as long as the children interact with the learning from the world outside their families (Bagin and Gallagher, 2001, P.136). PTA, as a representative of large community, has its own importance in addressing the problem of teaching learning process

The management of education in secondary schools could be hampered where the PTA is not performing its roles as expected. A careful examination of the secondary school system in Cameroon suggests that there are some problems bedeviling the PTA which have been hindering effective and smooth relationship between the association and the schools. Some of these are examined as follows:

Inadequate funding is a major problem facing the educational institutions in Nigeria from the primary level to the university level. The success of any secondary school system depends on the amount of resources available to it. Money is an input of any educational system that provides the essential purchasing power with which the system acquires its human and physical inputs.

The major problem that compounds schools’ financial inadequacy is irregular payment of school fees and PTA levy; and inadequate financial support of the PTA. It is believed that money generated through this medium would help complement governments’ effort in the provision of fund for secondary schools.

The challenges of physical and instructional facilities seem to hinder effective performance of the schools. Efficient and effective running of schools to achieve pre-determined goals can hardly be without sufficient facilities to aid teaching and learning. Meanwhile, the state of inadequacy of facilities in most secondary schools in Nigeria is a manifestation of poor funding of the system.

It has been observed that some school principals do not involve the parents in administration of the schools for the fear of being criticized. Most parents would like to play a more active role in their students’ progress in schools and decision making about school programmers but school administrators/ principals and teachers exhibit a great reluctance to encourage parents to become partners in governance. The non-involvement of parents in school governance, most often than not, results in lack of cooperation between the school and the parents which invariably limits the extent to which the schools can perform.

Another obstacle to the development of secondary education in Cameroon is the persistent mass failure of students in public examinations. Some of the reasons adduced for this poor performance include lack of proper guidance by parents; failure of parents to provide necessary materials for their children; parents aiding examination malpractices among others.

 Objectives Of The Study

1. To ascertain if the perceived attitude of parents-teacher association would influence secondary School management
2. To find out if the financing of schools by parents’ teacher’s association will improve the education standard and school management
3. To find out if the involvement of parents’ teacher’s association in school administration will improve education standards and school management
4. To find out if parents’ teacher’s association involvement in school events will improve the quality of education in Cameroon.
5. To examine the challenges faced by parents’ teacher’s association in improving the education standard in Cameroon.

Read More: Teachers Education Project Topics with Materials