The Influence of Parents on Students’ Academic Performance in Tanzania: The case of Ilala Public Primary Schools

Abstract

This study investigated the way parents’ participation in school activities influence students’ academic performance in public primary schools of Ilala district in Dar es Salaam region. It also sought opinions of parents on how to improve students’ academic performance. The study involved purposive and stratified simple random sampling procedures to obtain a sample of 53 participants. Data were collected through interviews, questionnaire and documents reviews. The findings show that the ways to achieve high performance of students include increasing the number of qualified teachers, building hostels for students staying far from schools and providing adequate learning materials to students. The study reports that the influence of parents to the schooling of their children is to pay contributions, to offer guidance and counselling, to check the academic progress and to provide learning materials for their children. The results reveal that parents were not involved in various school activities because of their low awareness among themselves, daily activities and being ignored by school administration. This study recommends that the government and other education stakeholders should employ qualified teachers and improve facilities in school environment, and ensure good working conditions for teachers to enhance effective teaching.