Community involvement in schools Educational administration School leadership

Infrastructure in the Merriam Webster Dictionary is conceptualized as the resources (personnel, building and equipment) required for an activity. Majority of persons have
the view that infrastructure just pertains to the school building, the architectural monument or aesthetic beauties of the school building itself. But from the Dictionary definition, it is viewed that even human resources and school facilities (audio-visual aids, school computers, laboratory, library, etc.) are all school infrastructures. The local government is the closest tier of government to the people and one of man’s earliest political institutions. The earliest form of local government existed in the form of clan and village meetings. In fact, democracy itself originated and developed along the lines of local governance initiatives in Africa and particularly in Nigeria. Though there have been changes in name, structure and composition, the system has been in operation differently all over the country (Agagu, 2004). With the advent of independence in 1960, local government in Nigeria became a de facto agent of administrating communities infrastructure and programmes at the local level (Diejomaoh & Eboh, 2010). Local government provides an existing frame work not only for decision making with respect to community, but also for coordinating assistance from other tiers of government, especially the central government (state or federal) and even from other agencies. Local government and infrastructural development are two closely related concepts. They are both primarily concerned with the development of local area. However, over the years the two concepts have been institutionally separated. One of the aims of the 1976 Local Government reform sponsored by the federal Military Government was to integrate community development into local government. The status of community development in Nigeria presently and its relationship to national development remain a serious subject for debate. The local government as the third tier of government in the Nigeria federal scheme is crucial to national development. One major objective of the local government 9 is to mobilize human and material resources towards the infrastructural development of the rural communities. It plays various significant roles in rural development and the execution of national policies, plans and programmers at thelocal communities

This study investigated school-community relationship and students’ academic performance in public senior secondary schools in Edo State. Seven research questions guided the study. Research questions 1 and 2 were answered while questions 3-7 were hypothesized and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study was a descriptive survey that adopted the correlation design. The population of the study comprised all the 313 public senior secondary schools in Edo State. The Multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted to select the sample size of 110 schools representing 35% of the population. A set of questionnaire titled ‘School-community relationship Questionnaire (SCRQ1) and a Checklist, titled ‘Student Academic Performance Checklist’ (SAPC) were used for the study. The reliability of the instruments was determined using Cronbach Alpha statistical tool and a reliability coefficient of 0.89 was obtained. The instruments were validated by the researcher’s supervisors. Questions one was answered using Mean and question 2 was answered using simple percentage, while Pearson r was used to test hypothesis 1 and Fisher’s Z statistics was used to test hypotheses 2-5. The findings revealed that the level of school-community relationship in public senior secondary schools in Edo State was moderate; students’ academic performance was high. There was a significant relationship between school-community relationship and students’ academic performance xv in public secondary schools in Edo State. The study further revealed that there was no significant difference in the relationship between school- community relationship and students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Edo State based on school location, principals’ sex, work experience and qualification. It was therefore recommended, among others that the relationship between the school and the communities be improved by encouraging more participation of members of the community in school activities and awareness should be created to make them see the school as their own and hence safeguard the properties against vandalism and theft which could hinder effective teaching and learning activities leading to improved academic performance in the school. Seminars and workshops should be organized for principals as drivers of school- community relationship to expose them to modern trends of interpersonal relationship