In three of the participant schools, community support is the second major source of funds for their general operation. One of the factors for the need for community support in schools is associated with government resource constraint to meet the commitment to achieve EFA and other Millennium Development Goal (MDGs). To these ends, local participation is propagated locally and nationally and demands community participation in all social services sectors. This was evident in conversations made with ex-KETB, when I first met him to get his consent to participate in focus group to be held corresponding to school „B‟. His comment while I told him the title of the study was organized as in the go after:
Participation [many times]; you cannot believe it. I was getting orders from woreda many times to coordinate people once for school, once for clinic and once for the other sectors.
This expression shows how frequent community participations are and how often the government demands community support in basic social services provisions.
In the area, government effort is not the only factor for promotion of community participation in education but the local communities also have their own thoughts about what is the most needed. The focus group participants and other people who were informally contacted want to abandon direct and indirect cost especially associated with educating a child when the family
2 Parent day is held twice in a year and all parents, teachers, students, invited guests and others are expected to
attend the day. On the occasion, students entertain and educate those who attend with dramas and cultural dances. Schools give awards to students and teachers whose performance has been outstanding during the term; parents hear reports of school performance and ratify the next year‟s school plan.
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lives in a remote location. When they were asked why they support schools, the participants justified the purpose of their contributions by comparing the benefits they get over a long run with the small amount of contribution they make now. Community members who participated in focus groups „A‟ and „B‟ respectively made the next justifications:
In the past, our children go to Shamboo [the closest town] to attend grade 6 to 12. At that time, we used to transport food, firewood and others stuffs. They [their children] live in rented accommodations. Imagine how difficult it was for a child to live away from his parents and for a poor family to pay rent each month and transport food …
If our children had been studying at Shamboo, imagine the distance our children would have traveled, the housing rent we would have paid, and the help we would have lost in the farm. So, don‟t you think paying Birr 30 is preferable!
These quotes imply that parents are supporting schools to solve their own problems. In the other focus groups similar types of reasoning were evident.
In the area, educating a child is viewed as future wealth for parents. A focus group participant compared educating a child to saving - wealth. In the local language the parent said: “Ilmoo
barsiifachuun, waan akka waa ol kaawaachuuti”. I asked the participant to explain it for the
focus group and the explanation was: “if you save money you will withdraw when you need it, if you educate a child you will get support during your old age.” Another participant brought another local saying to the focus group “Harreen ilmoo ishee irratti hagalfatti”; and the participant explained it as: “If you have educated your child, you will not worry about caring for family problems and educating younger children”. As understood from the focus group regardless of their economic capacity the communities have interest to support schools.
Some community initiatives in the area were a response to failure of the government to solve their educational problems. This was evident from how two first cycle primary schools were built in Jimma Ganatti Woreda. Communities around one of the schools are settled on a triangular shaped catchment area surrounded by marshy land in its two sides and lake in the other side. Communities around the other school are located on island in Fincaa Dam. Children from these communities used to cross to the main land in such a hazardous and tiresome physical features to and from school every day.
Another local condition that could be a factor is the existing local social structure. The local informal social structure is very cohesive. In addition, the villagers are interconnected
63 vertically and horizontally through the Garee and Gooxii system and Idir3. The importance of these local features has increased community participation for two reasons. First, the Garee
and Gooxii members4 are small in number and the leaders could easily identify those who don‟t take part in local activities and then absentees will be penalized. In school „A‟ where
Garee and Gooxii leaders are „passive members‟ (see the next section 5.1.5.) of PTA, it was
reported that a high level of community mobilization was achieved. Second, in the area every household is at least a member of Idir and the use of Idir leaders had established another advantage for mobilizing community. Local society self-help associations around school „C‟ have supplied construction materials and involved in school works. At bazaars in Horro Woreda, Idirs have raised money through bidding for materials, foods and animals presented on the event. Though these local structures have significant advantage for promoting community participation, households are directly or indirectly forced to participate and contribute money for local activities.