The Power of Parental Engagement in Transforming Education in Rural East Africa
At Asante Africa Foundation, we are passionate about driving positive change in rural communities and schools. We understand the crucial role of parental/guardian engagement in addressing the numerous challenges faced by these rural communities, including traditional norms, child marriages, teenage pregnancy, poor school enrollment, inadequate school infrastructure, unsatisfying skills and number of teachers, frequent absenteeism of both teachers and students, poor grades, high student dropout rates, and low transition rates.
To Asante Africa Foundation, parental engagement goes beyond simply involving parents and guardians in their children’s education. It is about creating strong partnerships between parents, schools, and communities to collectively work towards improving educational outcomes. Here are some key reasons why parental engagement is essential across all our programs.
Breaking Traditional Norms: In communities characterized by traditional norms, parents are playing a pivotal role in challenging and reshaping these norms. By actively engaging parents, we are empowering parents and guardians to advocate for education, challenge gender stereotypes, and promote equal opportunities for all children.
Improving Enrollment and Retention: Poor enrollment and high dropout rates are often linked to lack of awareness, financial constraints, and parental disengagement. Actively involving parents can address these barriers, provide support mechanisms, and ensure that children are enrolled and retained in schools. We also equip the parents and guardians with financial literacy and skills to improve their family livelihoods which is critical to reducing the challenges that lead to drop out numbers and poor enrollment. Our program participating schools have reported improvement in enrollment and retention compared to the periods before the launch of our programs.
Fostering a Culture of Learning: Parental engagement creates a culture of learning that extends beyond the classroom. When parents are actively involved in their children’s education, they become role models, reinforcing the value of education at home. This, in turn, motivates children to excel academically and develop a lifelong love for learning.
Addressing Social Challenges: Child marriages and teenage pregnancy are significant barriers to education in the communities we serve. Through engaging parents, we strive to raise awareness about the importance of education, the risks associated with early marriages, and the benefits of delaying parenthood. This helps reduce these social challenges and enable more children to stay in school and realize their full potential. Through parental engagement and partnerships we are able to avert many cases of child marriages and re-enroll some of those who were victims of early parenthood back to school.
Enhancing School Infrastructure and Quality: Parental engagement can also contribute to improving school infrastructure and the quality of teachers. By involving parents in decision-making processes, we can collectively work towards securing resources, advocate for better facilities, and ensure the recruitment and retention of qualified teachers. For example, when we introduced the Digital Transformation Strategy to improve education outcomes in rural schools, 90% of the 35 participating programs schools in Uganda were not connected to electricity to support digital learning in schools. Through continuous parental engagements we were able to build trust and community ownership of the initiative. The communities put resources together and connected schools to alternative sources of electricity and by end of 2023 we had achieved 95% connectivity and children were learning using digital technology.
Parental Engagement meeting convenes at one of Asante Africa Foundation Program schools.
In conclusion, parental engagement is a powerful catalyst for transforming education in rural East African communities. By recognizing parents as key stakeholders and actively involving them in decision making processes, we can collectively address traditional norms, combat social challenges, improve enrollment and retention rates, enhance school infrastructure and quality, and foster a culture of learning.
At Asante Africa Foundation we are committed to continue driving parental engagement initiatives that empower parents, strengthen communities, and create a brighter future for the children we serve. You can partner with us and make a lasting impact and unlock the full potential of education in these underserved areas of East Africa. Join us towards a brighter future for all children!
Written by: Geoffrey Kasangaki
