Two parties are said to be in a relationship with one another if they impact on each other and if they are interdependent in the sense that a change in a party causes a change in the other and vice versa. In this paper, the two parties are the school and the community. The school finds itself in a community and the community sees the school to be part of them. For a better coexistence, there should be an effective relationship between the school and the community. In this paper, the concept of community participation will be discussed together with some challenges that local communities in Ghana may face in an attempt to contribute to the development of Early Childhood Centres in their respective areas.
UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA
FACULTY OF EDUCATIONAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
CONCEPT OF COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION CHALLENGES THAT LOCAL COMMUNITIES IN GHANA MAY FACE IN AN ATTEMPT TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTRES IN THEIR RESPECTIVE AREAS
ANTHONY WOODE-ESHUN
Introduction
According to Zinth (2005), a school is any carefully designated institution established for the purposes of offering instruction to pupils in programs for preschool children with disabilities, kindergarten programs or any combination of grades one through twelve. In the context of Ghana, after preschool, there is the introduction to formal education which starts from the lower primary, then to upper primary through to Junior High School. Afterwards there is the next phase which is the senior high or vocational education. Tertiary education comes right after the secondary education.
According to Kusi (2017), a community can refer to a usually small, social unit of any size that shares common values. A community is characterized with specific group of people living a specific place, speaking similar language(s) and having common community leaders.
Two parties are said to be in a relationship with one another if they impact on each other and if they are interdependent in the sense that a change in a party causes a change in the other and vice versa (Hardie & Lucas, 2010). In this paper, the two parties are the school and the community. The school finds itself in a community and the community sees the school to be part of them. For a better coexistence, there should be an effective relationship between the school and the community. In this paper, the concept community participation will be discussed together with some challenges that local communities in Ghana may face in an attempt to contribute to the development of Early Childhood Centres in their respective areas.
Concept of Community Participation
Participation is a concept understood and conceptualised differently by its users. Participation is deemed as a voluntary contribution by the people in one or another of the public programmes supposed to contribute to national development. Community participation is a process by which a community mobilizes its resources, initiates and takes responsibility for its own development activities and share in decision making for and implementation of all other development programmes for the overall improvement of its health status (Kumar, 2002). Community participation concerns the engagement of individuals and communities in decisions about things that affect their lives.
The community comprises of many institutions of which the school is not exempted. Since these institutions provide benefits and importance to the community and its members, it is appropriate for the community to participate in the activities of institutions including the school. The participation of community members in the affairs of the school depicts to the school that the community has them at heart and for that reason they are willing to provide the necessary form of assistance to the school and other institutions.
Challenges Faced by Local Communities in Contributing to the Development of Early Childhood Centres in their Respective Areas
In the attempt of the community and its members in contributing to the development and stability of educational centres especially ECE centres, there are numerous barriers or challenges they are faced with and this to an extent impedes on the school community relationship. The following are discussions of some challenges identified;
1. Economic circumstances: The will of contributing to the development and stability of early childhood centres in the locality could be present but economic circumstances might be a challenge. When local community members find it hard to come by money, their involvement in the education of their own wards will be a problem (Burstein, 2007). Their involvement in meetings such as Parents Teachers Association (PTA) meetings and speech and prize giving day will not be effective. These meetings are held to foster the relationship of the community and schools. The school gets the opportunity to discuss the happenings in the school and community members also share the happenings of the community to the school. Local community members are given the opportunity to be part of the formulation of rules, regulations and some policies of the school during these meetings and in all there is the conscious effort of helping to develop the ECE centre. However, community members may be challenged economically and might decide not to join these meetings because normally there is the collection of some special levies and members who cannot afford will not attend. In addition, some might feel inferior as their appearance might not be pleasant to other members attending the meeting. Hence will decide to not join any activity of the school.
2. Lack of time: The involvement of the local community in the development of early childhood centres in the locality requires time. Members of the community would have to respond to meetings scheduled by the school, they would have to periodically pay the schools some visits and they would have to apportion some time for all these commitments. There will be a challenge when there is time constraints due to busy daily work schedules and more demanding tasks making local community members have little or no contribution to the development of the early childhood centre in the locality.
3. Strange and strained relationship between teachers and the community members: When the attitude of teachers and other staff members of the school is not welcoming, local community members will find it comfortable participating in activities that are geared towards the development of the early childhood centre in the locality. This happens as a result of teacher professionalism. Some teachers do not see the relevance of associating themselves with community members. And it might create an unwelcoming atmosphere for parents who would even want to visit the teachers of their wards and ask them questions about the progress of their wards. If this strange and strained relationship between teachers and the community members continues to exit, it might create a challenge since local community members will feel reluctant in contributing to the development of the early childhood centre in the locality.
4. Lack of accountability: Lack of accountability is another challenge especially when efforts of community members which come in the form of money or any other form of assistance is not duly accounted for. Where ever there is the need for a group of people to make financial obligations, there is the need for accountability on how the funds are being managed. In the case of local community members which involve parents of learners, they are sometimes tasked to pay special levies for school projects. When after all these financial obligations, the school denies the local community members accountability, then there is a great chance that the community will not be ready to offer any form of assistance to the school again. This is a great challenge that prevents the progress of an effective relationship between the school and the community.
5. Disregard of the community members: Some school fail to recognize the parents and other community members as though they have no good potential or better contribution to offer, there by alienating them. When the school tries to operate as an island by not recognizing the existence of the local community, the members of the community would relax since the impression is created that their presence is not needed. The best thing a school should be doing is giving invitation to the community through community leaders to make them aware of some key programmes and activities of the school; this will make the community feel respected and needed. When the opposite happens, the community will relax and refuse to provide any form of support to help with the development of the early childhood centre in the locality.
Conclusion
Both the early childhood education centres and the community benefits from participation. The school should not operate like an island and the community should recognize the school as part of the community since it is situated in the community. In this paper, the concept community participation was discussed together with some challenges that local communities in Ghana face in an attempt to contribute to the development of Early Childhood Centres in their respective areas.
References
Burstein, N.R. (2007). Economic influences on relationships. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 26, 249–387.
Hardie, J.H., & Lucas, A. (2010). Economic factors and relationship quality among young couples: Comparing cohabitation and marriage. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 1141– 1154.
Kumar, S. ( 2002). Methods for Community Participation: A Complete Guide for Practitioners. Vistaar Publications, New Delhi.
Kusi, H. (2017). Leading and Managing People in Education. Winneba, Ghana: Watered Gardens Computers and Business Centre.
Zinth, K. (2005). Leadership in organizations (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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- Quote paper
- Anthony Woode-Eshun (Author), 2021, Challenges to the Establishment of Early Childhood Education Centres in Ghana, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1153668
