Voluntary Participation or Coercion: The Case of Parental Participation in Primary Education in Uganda (1970-2009): A case study of Arua District

This study is about how the shift from Parents Teachers Association (PTA) to School Management Committee (SMC) has affected the participation /involvement of parents in the education of their children. This shift came as a result of reforms in government structures and institutions supported by international agencies. This policy shift is based on the belief that decentralised school management systems by SMC responds better to the local needs as communities participate in identifying their priorities and devise strategies to address them with local knowledge and parents will be better placed to demand transparency and accountability in the operations of SMC. The participation of parents in education of their children was expected to lead to reduction of absenteeism by pupils and teachers, improvement of quality of education as parents will take keen interest in monitoring the activities of the teachers; improve school and home relationships. The findings of the research point out that parent‟s participation in education of their children under PTA (1970-1997) and SMC (1998 to date) was and still not voluntary but some threat of force made them to participate under PTA while under SMC there was no threat of force so the participation by parents appeared to have reduced as a result government of Uganda has directed district local governments to come up with some bylaws to encourage parental participation in education. An exploratory study was done where qualitative methods of data collection were used. Primary and secondary data were used and semi structured interviews were done with leaders(political, civil and institutional) at district, sub county and school level while focus group discussion was done with parents who were purposively selected. The main conclusion is that it appears voluntary parental participation in education of their children under PTA before UPE and under SMC after UPE is a myth than a reality.