The achievements and challenges of school development committees (SDC) and school development associations (SDA ) involvement in school development in cluster 34 in Warren Park Mabelreign district in Harare province

Abstract

This study investigated achievements and challenges of School Development Committee and School Development Association (SDC/SDA) involvement in school development in Warren Park Mabelreign District. Three research questions guided the study, framed from the main research question: What are the achievements and challenges of SDC/SDA involvement in school development? The first sub research question was to identify the achievements of SDC/SDA involvement in school development, secondly to explore challenges faced by SDC/SDA involvement in school development and thirdly state the mitigation to challenges raised. The study employed both the quantitative and qualitative approaches under the descriptive design. The research study involved a sample of 40 participants from four primary schools. The participants were selected through purposive sampling technique. Questionnaires and Interviews were data gathering tools, which produced data analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Data display was done after organisation and compression of data to allow conclusions to be drawn and verifications made. The findings revealed that SDC/SDA have made significant achievements in both infrastructure, resource provision, staffing and fund mobilisation though there is need to beef up. The study further revealed that there are so many challenges accompanied with SDC/SDA involvement in school development. Nevertheless, the study concluded that SDC/SDA is an important and essential component of a school considering the tangible (assets) and non-tangible (knowledge) achievements. However, the researcher recommends policy makers to design policies that stipulate the level of academic requirements that should be considered in the selection of SDC/SDA members. Another powerful recommendation is for the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE) to set aside a fund to induct or orient new SDC/SDA members annually to acquaint the new members with the pre-requisite skills.