Community Participation: An Alternative for Proper School Management in Nigeria

Education is a powerful catalysing agent and it plays a pivotal role in the development of individuals, community as well as society. Education ranks at the near top in the social priorities of all countries. Education is a social process and it receives its meaning and essential logic from the society of which it is a part. In modern societies, education is considered as an indispensable requirement of development and a fundamental right of every individual. Education cannot be provided without proper management and proper management cannot be done without a proper strategy. Therefore, to shade light on proper strategies for school management, community participation: an alternative for proper school management in Nigeria. The objectives of this paper should intend to propose a better way of managing schools for better educational input and out for national development with community participation as the alternative. This paper highlights the concept of community participation, concept of educational management, concept of decentralization in educational management, need for community participation in school management in Nigeria, conclusion and recommendations as sub-headings in the paper. Descriptive method, surveying the literature was employed as the research method. One of the findings, among others, is that community participation helps in designing proper school curriculum and handling school resources with the required probity and accountability. It is recommended among others, that media, print, electronic and social should be used by government and community leaders in promoting community participation in school management.