Relevance of School-Community Relations in the Development of Primary Education in Delta State, Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of this survey is to identify the relevance of school-community relations in the development of primary education in Delta State. The proportionate stratified random sampling technique is used to sample 1697 respondents from a population of 16961 headmasters, assistant headmasters, teachers in primary schools and community elders in Delta State. The instrument used for data collection is self-designed questionnaire entitled “School-Community Relations and Development of Primary Education Questionnaire” (SCRDPEQ). The study employs descriptive statistics of mean scores and standard deviation to analyse the data collected for the study. Proving the relevance of school-community relations on the development of primary education in Delta State, the study reveals among others that the community provides lands for building of primary schools, helps in funding the primary schools, helps in provision of more classrooms in the primary schools, the community makes use of the school surrounding during election, classrooms can be used by the community during holiday, school play grounds can be used by the community for local games and school parks can be used by community during festive seasons. Based on the findings, the study recommends among others that school heads should make themselves accessible to community members. School facilities such as the field, hall should be made available to the community for use when necessary, this will bring more bond between the school and the community.