Abstract

Community participation policy was introduced in 2004, following a number of challenges in Malawi’s public education system. Literature reveals that a number of stakeholders do not fully support the policy. This comes against the background of efforts by both government and other key stakeholders to make the policy effective. The study, which was conducted in rural locations of Lilongwe District, was aimed at assessing the implementation of community participation policy in rural public primary schools. A qualitative approach was employed, and a purposive sampling technique was used for selecting the rural public primary schools, as well as identifying study participants. Sem-istructerd interview guides for in-depth and key informant interviews were used in collecting data, which was analysed thematically. The study comfirmed that community participation policy is implemented in almost all rural public primary schools. Participants’ categories were predetermined to suit the study requirements and specifications. The study participant categories included: 4 SMC chairpersons; 4 PTA chairpersons; 12 senior teachers; 4 head teachers; 3 Primary Education Advisors, each representing at least one sample school; and the Director for Education, Youth and Sports (DEYS). The study confirmed that community participation policy is implemented in almost all rural public primary schools. The study also found that some stakeholders, like SMCs, PTA and chiefs, are more active than others. Finally, the study found that there are implementation challenges encountered and also solicited suggested solutions to the challenges. The study recommends that government should take a more regulative role to make community participation policy implementation more effective.

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School	: School of Education
Issued Date	: 2024

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