This study was designed to investigate the current policies and practices of secondary school governance in Eritrea. There is a basic need to investigate the nature of parental involvement in school governance, particularly in relation to policies enshrined in the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) guidelines. The study examined the parents' commitment to execute their school governance role properly and to determine their capacity to fulfil their responsibilities with respect to the powers and functions vested in them. Education was merely the domain of the school and parents were discouraged from interfering in matters of school governance, therefore parental participation has been very limited. Thus, the focus of the study was to investigate the prevailing problems that curtail parental involvement and identify appropriate strategies for improving and strengthening school governance.

This study was designed to investigate the current policies and practices of secondary school governance in Eritrea. There is a basic need to investigate the nature of parental involvement in school governance, particularly in relation to policies enshrined in the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) guidelines. The study examined the parents' commitment to execute their school governance role properly and to determine their capacity to fulfil their responsibilities with respect to the powers and functions vested in them. Education was merely the domain of the school and parents were discouraged from interfering in matters of school governance, therefore parental participation has been very limited. Thus, the focus of the study was to investigate the prevailing problems that curtail parental involvement and identify appropriate strategies for improving and strengthening school governance.

The study investigated parents’ involvement in managing primary schools in Oromiya National Regional State, Ethiopia. The main concern of this study revolved around the challenges that lead to the decline in parental involvement in their children’s schooling, low stakeholders’ participation in the management of primary schools, lack of awareness of students and their families on the school context that leads to increased rates of learner achievement. Furthermore, the study investigated the existence of conflict in role perception manifested in assuming that schools could play their roles in children’s education without parents’ interference, and both parties working together for their children’s achievements. In the study, a qualitative research methodology was employed. This qualitative study examined parental involvement in their managing primary schools through semi-structured interviews with five primary school principals, five parent –student teacher association chairpersons and 12 parents who had children in elementary school through focus group discussions. The findings of this research were centred around families’ participation in their children’s learning, understanding how parental involvement enhances learners’ achievements, views of schools and teachers on parental involvement, school assistance of parents in their parenting tasks and strategies to allow parents to take part in their children’s schooling. The conclusion drawn from this study is that the Ethiopian educational policy tries to advocate parental involvement in managing primary schools for improving educational quality at its level and through obtaining better family school governance experiences. School principals and PTA chairpersons did not seem to appreciate the possible advantages that could emanate from complete parental involvement in managing elementary schools. The study recommends approaches to manage and use schools, human and material resources, ways to involve uneducated parents in school management to use their indigenous knowledge in their children’s schooling, and parental involvement in managing primary schools in rural and semi-urban areas differs from other situations. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Educational Leadership and Management)