The Role of Community Participation in the Ongoing Construction of Ward Based Secondary Schools: Lessons of Tanzania

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to examine the role of community participation in the ongoing construction of ward based secondary schools in Tanzania with respect of two wards namely Makulu and Nzuguni in Dodoma Municipality. The government of Tanzania introduced secondary education development plan (PEDP) phase one starting from 2004 -2009 and phase two from 2010 – 2015. It is during this period when the idea of having ward based Secondary Schools throughout the nation was put in place aiming at opening more space for secondary education. Data for the study were collected from Ward Executive Offers, Ward Education Officers, Village Leaders and village members using semi-structured and free talk interview. A total of 35 respondents participated in the study. The research findings indicated that community participation in the ongoing construction of secondary schools takes different forms of either cash contribution or labour power contribution. The nature and extent of community participation for the majority of local communities in cash contribution and labour power contribution is generally limited. Villagers are generally not actively involved in decision making, planning, monitoring and evaluation processes. Based on these findings, it is concluded that mobilization of political support is a very important aspect because it makes people aware of their participation and the kind of help they are likely to honor supports. Community members should be politically mobilized through education and training on the importance of their development initiatives and to make them feel that an initiative project belongs to them. In this regard people will be in a position to honor support and participate in decision making on matters concerning their social development.