Parents' Involvement on Children's Academic Success in Public Primary Schools: A Case of Chanika Ward in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

The study examined the contribution of parental involvement on the children’s academic success in three selected public primary schools. It was guided by three specific objectives and data were collected through in-depth interviews and documentary review. The study adopted descriptive research design and qualitative approach. The study applied random and purposive sampling procedures and had a sample size of 98 participants. Results from the study revealed that parents had roles to play in their children’s academic success but there were educated parents who did not attend school meetings because of limited time and nature of the businesses they were doing. Also, there were parents who had negative perception towards education. In addition to that, some of the parents had low level of education who were not able to help their children at home when doing homework. Furthermore, poor teaching and learning environment, poverty, pupil’s truancy and poor attendance, overcrowded classrooms, and shortage of teaching and learning materials were among the contributing factors that contributed to pupils’ poor performance in English and Mathematics subjects at the selected primary schools. The study recommends Heads of the schools to come up with another alternative/mechanism that will involve parents rather than depending on school meetings that were not productive as expected.