CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Education is very important for the economic development of any nation in the world. According to UNICEF (2007), an educated population is an asset to the future development of a country. The basis of an educated population is the performance at the primary school level. The academic performance of any primary school is highly influenced by its parents. It is the role of parents to motivate pupils from home in order to perform well at school. It is the role of parents to avoid divorce and other irresponsible behaviours which create stress to pupils. In addition, parents have other roles to play in order to promote academic achievements of their children. They have to ensure that children are not overworked with domestic work at the expense of school work. Children have to attend school regularly and at the right time when schools open. As parents, they need to ensure that they participate in schoolactivities
E.g. attending meetings (AGM, Academic days, fundraising etc.). When children are encouraged and supported in learning by parents, they do well in schools. It is the responsibility of parents too to avoid local traditions and customs such as early marriage and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) that hinder children from going to school. According to Gorton (1976), some parents in USA are indifferent about schools unless when a controversial issue occurs. Parents do not attend meetings and this discourages school management.
In West african societies, it has been noted that absence of a parent from home creates tension and motivational problems hindering academic progress of the pupils (Booth, 1996). According to Mostart and Kasanda (2006), to promote academicsuccess of their children in school, parents need to communicate valuable information about their children to teachers. This is because they know their likes and dislikes in addition to their strengths and weaknesses. When their weaknesses are known by teachers, appropriate plans are made to cater for their needs in good time. Most parents in Namibia however, do not communicate the weaknesses of their children to teachers especially medical details. Parents have a great impact on a school and its operations. If parents do not support school programs, learning will be adversely affected (Baraza & Nyongesa,2007).
