Chapter 6: The extent of parental involvement
6.2 Data presentation and analysis 129
6.2.1 The nature/ levels of parental support 129
6.2.2.8 Serving as volunteers 147
The schools received support from parents as volunteers in a variety of school-related activities.
According to the respondents, Siyaphila Primary School received support which could be rated at level 3 while the support at Siphelele and Thuthuka Primary schools was rated at level 2.
According to the educators, parents volunteered their services in a variety of activities. Some parents took care of learners’ welfare, a few provided academic support and others supported the schools’ extramural programmes. A parent who had taught catechism at the church for several
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years at Thuthuka Primary School described how she saw a need to establish a Grade R but did not know where to start. However, when she became aware of an initiative by the Department of Basic Education to introduce the Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme at schools, she attended a few meetings and workshops. The church assisted her in establishing a Grade R class where she volunteered for four years. However, the programme is now under the administration of the Early Childhood Development programme. The educator said:
I always wanted to teach the very small ones but I did not know how to start.
When I heard about the DOE’s plan to introduce Grade R classes in rural schools, I used the opportunity to volunteer my services. I attended a few meetings and later workshops, and with support of the church, we established a Grade R class. Today I am employed by the ECD department of education. One member of the community supported me voluntarily, but is now receiving a stipend from ECD.
A parent at Siphelele Primary School reported how she worked as a volunteer general assistant at the school as she saw that the school needed support. When the DOE introduced the NSNP programme, she was offered employment as a cook, a job she holds today. She said:
When I walked past the school, I often saw educators cleaning the school. One day I went to the school to explain my late payment of school fees as I was unemployed. The principal offered me a job to clean the school one day a week as payment towards school fees. I cleaned the school two or three days a week.
After some time I was offered work as a cook and I have been here ever since.
An educator at the Siyaphila Primary School expressed appreciation of the voluntary service provided by a community member who gave of his time to train learners in sporting activities.
She said:
There is a gentleman who volunteers his services to the school. He often comes to the school and takes the boys and girls for training. He spends much time training the learners in athletics and cross country. He also does boys’ and
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girls’ football. When learners have to go out to compete, he accompanies them as well which motivates them (Siyaphila Primary School educator).
Responses from educators indicated that parents volunteered to cook when the cook was away, while others stood in and took care of Grade R learners when the educators were away attending meetings or workshops, or when they were off sick. However, educators had to guide and orientate parents to avoid anything untoward. Van der Westhuizen (2002, p. 24) advises that
“communities value education and parents can make a significant contribution in supporting the school if properly guided and welcomed.”
The schools benefited when volunteers provided services as alluded to by Epstein (1995). These included parents providing support during a school sports day, concerts, or going on a school trip with a class. However, I was intrigued when I saw parents walking by, turn into a school where learners and educators worked in the garden, and hoed for an hour before continuing on their journey. I believe the spirit of Ubuntu is well and alive in rural communities.
Parents from Siyaphila Primary School spent many hours volunteering their services to the school. At Thuthuka and Siphelele Primary School, parents volunteered their services by cooking for learners. I believe the parents rendered a valuable service as the feeding of learners was crucial as it directly influenced their attendance and performance at school.
6.2.2.9 Providingfinancial support and making donations to the schools
With the limited budget rural schools receive, they are often only able to fund two or three planned school outings. However, at all three schools parents made a concerted effort to provide financial support when the school requested their support when learners had to attend additional school activities. When the learners won and had to compete further, the schools depended on parents’ support in order to allow the learners an opportunity to compete at a higher level. This aspect was rated at level 2.
Rural schools have comparatively fewer learners and therefore have smaller financial allocations which are used to procure school materials. Further, according to the principals, most parents languished in poverty which restricted them from supporting school activities financially.
Parents at Thuthuka and Siphelele Primary Schools expressed the pain they experienced when 149
they could not pay for their children to go out to compete when they were selected. They reported that they often had to make the difficult decision to withdraw them from competitions.
This confirms Berger’s (1987) assertion that to exist in a culture of poverty means to feel powerless to make change and unable to control your own destiny.
However, according to the respondents, there were parents and grandparents who paid from their meagre earnings to afford their children the opportunity to participate in school activities.
Learners at Siyaphila Primary School voiced their gratitude to their parents for making payments that enabled them to participate in a variety of school activities. The learners indicated that parents were often requested to provide financial support toward planned school activities such as educational excursions and Olympiads, sporting and cultural activities. A learner from Siyaphila Primary School said:
We really appreciate it when our parents provide us with opportunities to participate in cultural activities, sporting activities and educational contests by paying for us to go out. This allows us to showcase our skills and talents, and provides us with the opportunity to compete against other schools in academic, sporting and cultural activities and we do well. This provides us with an opportunity to be selected to compete at higher levels. The money provided by our parents pays for transport costs and to buy food along the way.
However, educators indicated that there were some parents who went the extra mile and made sacrifices from the little they earned to pay for their children’s transport costs which enabled them to participate in planned activities. According to the learners, they performed at their best to ensure that their parents’ sacrifices were not in vain. A learner from Siphelele Primary School said:
I am very encouraged by our parents who pay towards transporting their children from the little they have. They inspire us to commit ourselves when we prepare for an outing. Fortunately our learners give of their best as they are aware their parents have made the sacrifice and they don’t wish to disappoint
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them. Learners have won many competitions. Some have gone on to compete at district and some at provincial level.
Principals and educators were appreciative of parents who identified certain needs at the schools and sought support from other sources. The parents of Thuthuka and Siyaphila Primary Schools, for example, offered to appeal to their employers to provide certain services to the schools. The farmers sent their tractors driven by parent employees to deliver firewood or to cut the grass at the school. The principal of Siphelele Primary School said:
Our parents ask their employers to cut the grass and provide the school with firewood. The grass grows very quickly in summer, and it becomes difficult to maintain. During summer the grass grows very fast and needs to be cut regularly. The school also often uses firewood to cook for learners, so when the wood runs out, our parents come to our rescue.
Further, the educator at Siphelele Primary School expressed her gratitude to parents who donated fresh potatoes, cabbages and beans they received as rations from the farms where they worked.
The vegetables were put to good use in supplementing the school’s nutrition programme as the school’s garden was not productive. She said:
Some parents give some of their rations of fresh spinach, cabbages, lettuce and tomatoes to the school. This helps a great deal in feeding our learners, as the vegetables reach us while they are fresh. The school presently does not have a productive vegetable garden; therefore, the support parents provide helps a great deal. Unfortunately, parents donate only when they receive rations from excess produce.
The SGB chairperson of Thuthuka Primary School, an emerging farmer, donated fresh vegetables to the school at times. He was grateful that the school qualified for the NSNP programme and encouraged parents who planted crops to contribute towards this worthy cause to supplement the programme. He said:
We appreciate our Department of Education for feeding our children. However, we as parents could assist in some way as some of us produce vegetables in our
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gardens. Our children need fresh vegetables. When possible, I give learners who pass by a few cabbages or a pocket of potatoes as a donation to the school.
I encourage people who plant vegetables to donate some to the school as kids only have soup at times.
The resident priest at Thuthuka Primary School donated vegetables and other provisions such as clothes and a variety of other items to needy learners at the school. He also provided much support when he donated firewood to the school. I noted that Siyaphila Primary School gave excess vegetables produced from the school garden to parents who worked on the school’s project or to members of the community who were in need. Parents at Siphelele Primary School donated vegetables they received from their work place. This made it possible for the school to provide food with fresh vegetables to the learners.