Influence of Parental Education and Family Income On Children's Education in Rural Uganda
Influence of Parental Education and Family Income On Children's Education in Rural Uganda
Influence of Parental Education and Family Income On Children's Education in Rural Uganda
Alice J. Drajea
Trinity College Dublin
Carmel O’Sullivan
Trinity College Dublin
Abstract
This article investigates the effect of parents’ literacy levels and family income in Uganda on the
quality and nature of parents’ involvement in their children’s primary education. A mixed-methods
study with an ethnographic element was employed to explore the views and opinions of 21
participants through a qualitative approach. Methods for data collection included observation of
family routines and practices, semi-structured interviews with parents and children, and review of
relevant documents. Vygotsky’s socio-cultural historical theory and the Feinsteinian concept of
intergenerational transmission of educational success offer the basis for the investigation.
Findings indicated a significant relationship between parents’ income and literacy levels and
the quality of support to their children’s education. Household poverty emerged as a major obstacle
to educational success for children across the three socio-economic categories of family studied.
Compromised lack of time for parent-child interaction proved to be the main obstacle as parents
spent significant hours in non-academic matters for the day-to-day survival of their families. Parental
illiteracy showed negative associations with children’s literacy competence and subsequent success in
primary school.
Keywords
Literacy, parents, rural Uganda, poverty, achievement
Global Education Review is a publication of The School of Education at Mercy College, New York. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License, permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited. Citation: Drajea, Alice J. & O’Sullivan, Carmel (2014). Influence of parental education and family income on
children’s education in rural Uganda, 1 (3). 149-166.
148 Global Education Review 1(3)
district of Moyo, 12 km from the river Nile in 2006; Feinstein, Duckworth, & Abates, 2008).
the West Nile Region. It is a remote area, The literature is replete with references to
which is about 500 km from the capital city, research, which proposes that when parents
Kampala. Comparatively, my parents were are educated, the pattern of influence on their
more educated than the other parents in the children’s education and life in general tends
village and therefore they were employed and to be different from parents with low or no
earning salary. My mother was a qualified formal education (Feinstein, et al., 2008).
primary school teacher, dad’s college
certificate enabled him to join the police and
The Literacy and Poverty
later he served as a prison warder. They spoke
Paradox
the language of both home (Ma’di) and of
The relationship between the level of a
school (English), and other languages
person’s education and poverty seem to be
including Kiswahili, Acholi, Luganda and
inter-twined. Internationally, UNESCO
Lugbara, languages of the places where they
(2006) and the World Bank (2009) found a
had studied and worked. With such
strong positive correlation between literacy
educational background and exposure to life,
and poverty. The World Bank (2009)
my parents had a knowledge of the school
observed that a lack of income and essential
system and they understood the challenges of
goods and services still exists in the poorer
schooling from their own experience, and
regions. UNESCO (2011) reveals that the
directly and indirectly passed those values
poorer regions of the world, namely Sub-
onto us, their children, perhaps, as Delgado-
Saharan Africa, and South and West Asia also
Gaitan (1990) noted, even “without realising
show the lowest literacy rates. Further,
it.”
observation has shown that 1,115 million
Since my involvement in teaching
people in the developing countries live in
between 1995 -2004 in the West Nile Region,
poverty, that is below the upper poverty line of
the needs of students became apparent to me.
$370 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) (Meier
Their struggles with the language of school
and Rauch, 2000). Of these, 630 million
(English), the lack of basic school materials,
people (18%) of the total population of the
the lack of school fees, omitting lunch because
developing world was designated extremely
there was no food at home, and their struggles
poor, that is they consume less than $275 per
with health issues, and so forth, prompted my
annum, being the lower poverty line (Meier
current research interest, which explores the
and Rauch, 2000). Although global poverty
important relationship between parents’
has been on the decline since the 1980s (Meier
educational levels and literacy skills, and their
and Rauch, 2000), efforts to reduce poverty
children’s performance in primary school.
have been hampered, especially in the poorer
These years of teaching made me realise
regions by such factors as poor health and a
how privileged my siblings and I were
lack of education. According to the World
compared to most children in the village due
Bank (2009), these factors deprive people of
to our parents’ socio-economic status, which
productive employment and are likely to
was a direct result of their level of education.
impact negatively on school aged children,
It therefore makes more sense to me now
especially when parents are neither literate
when studies continue to suggest that parents’
nor employed, and live below the poverty line.
education not only makes a difference in their
There exists evidence that family
own lives, but also in their families’ and the
society in which they live and serve (UNESCO, poverty is closely associated with family
Influence of parental education and family income on children’s education in rural Uganda 149
The figures indicate that individuals labour market in Uganda illustrates that
with specialised training earn almost ten times literacy and poverty are inseparable (LMIS,
as much as those with no formal education. 2006). The 2006 survey indicated that people
In rural Uganda, it is estimated that only in the rural areas who are working are more
8% and 31% of the population live in likely to be poor than their counterparts in
permanent and semi-permanent dwelling urban areas (40% as against 11%), while in the
units respectively (MFPED, 1999). A two to predominantly rural northern region of
three roomed house with brick walls, a Uganda – the location of this study - an
corrugated iron roof and a cement floor, estimated 60% of working people are
without electricity, indoor toilets, or water on described as poor, compared to only 19% in
tap (typical of northern rural Uganda, is the Central region [city area] (LMIS, 2006).
regarded as a good house, with the particular Furthermore, people with no formal education
benefit of providing space for children both to are more likely to be counted among the
study and to sleep. By contrast, most low- working poor than those with primary
income parents in this area will have a one- education (55% as against 39%) (LMIS, 2006).
roomed hut where the family cook, recreate, Against such stark statistics which
sleep and keep their belongings. In such an continue to prevail in the 21st century, a study
arrangement, when children are above the age to examine the lived realities and opinions of
of seven (male or female), it is a common families from the West Nile region of Moyo
practice for them to sleep with the children of district in Uganda was conceived with the
the neighbours separate from their own house. direct intention of exploring the triadic
Usually, the girls would sleep with their relationship between parents’ levels of
grandmothers, and if there are no education and literacy skills, their potential to
grandmothers, they would share a hut, earn an income, and their ability to support
referred to as adra jo, which means “granny’s their children in primary school. It was hoped
hut”, with other girls of the village. It is to be able to engage directly with families
uncommon for the younger boys to sleep with themselves, to experience their world on a
their grandfathers because he might have a day-to-day basis and to elicit their opinions
second wife, and so they would sleep in a about the impact of their own situations in
separate hut with the older boys. In the Moyo terms of education levels and financial
district in Uganda, the majority of the rural constraints on the degree of success their
population live below the international children experience in primary education.
poverty line, on less than $1.25 a day (Meier &
Rauch, 2000). The status of persons in the
152 Global Education Review 1(3)
Data from interviews and family 2012. The 21 participants comprised parents
ethnography were used to assess the (n= 9), children (n=9) and senior community
relationship between parents’ education and members (n=3). The sample included families
literacy and poverty levels, and its mediating with different educational and socio-economic
impact on the form and extent of parents’ backgrounds. I was the sole data collector
involvement in their children’s education. since I spoke the same language as the
Findings were grouped under headings related participants. I spent between 2 and 3 days
to the parents’ educational/literacy skill levels and nights living with each family, sharing in
in relation to their occupational status. their daily activities, household chores, field
Further data were collected using in- work, food preparation and recreation in the
depth on-site interviews, document analysis, evenings. This provided an invaluable
and questionnaires (Boeije, 2010; Sarantakos, opportunity to get to know each of the nine
2013), from responses of 21 participants (9 families well and to be able to experience and
couples [parents], 9 children and 3 senior document the literacy related environment in
community members) studied across three which they live. The families had been
sites (urban, semi-rural and rural). identified by the head teachers in the schools
Questionnaires were used as an initial which their children attended, and
tool to gather data from educators and represented the diverse sample of parental
children, while parents were specifically education levels and socio-economic standing
administered interviews since some parents that I was interested in exploring across the
were illiterate. The interviews and urban, semi-rural and rural divide. Three
observations were conducted in the homes of families in each location type, representing
the families studied. high, average and low literacy levels were
selected and invited to participate in the study.
Procedure Detailed information about the purpose of the
The main study involved data from 119 study, its aims and the format of the extended
participants but only 21 are referred to in this site visit was explained to the families by both
article. This sample includes members of the head teacher and by me, before
families who were visited at home in three permissions were granted. The study operated
sites: urban, semi-rural and rural in the Moyo according to the ethical standards of the
district from July 9th through September 14th School of Education at Trinity College, Dublin.
154 Global Education Review 1(3)
The home stay visits allowed a unique literacy skills are marked C, and the individual
opportunity to observe the extent of parent- families labelled C3. My observation report is
child interaction over a number of days, and to woven into the overall report while retaining
see first-hand the range of literacy related the family labels - A1, B2 and C3 respectively.
materials available for use by both parents and Responses from pupils are also annexed to
children in the home. It also facilitated the each category of family under which they
opportunity to conduct a semi-structured and belong. Fictional names have been assigned to
recorded interview with the parents, and also all respondents. The children selected for
separately with the children during quiet inclusion in this study were all attending
moments in the day. The children had primary six (P.6), and ranged in age from 11 to
previously completed an in-depth 18 (as a result of having repeated classes,
questionnaire in school about their own started school late or dropped out of school
performance and the potential of their parents periodically for financial reasons).
to support them academically, personally and
materially while in primary school (phase one Findings
of the study). No payment of any kind was A. Category of professional parents with
sought or offered, but I brought a little sugar, high level of literacy skill
corn flour, and sometimes locally smoked fish This category involved one health worker (a
as a gift to the households to help in female nurse in the urban area), one health
supporting the families during my stay. At the worker (female nurse in the rural area), and
end of my home visits, some families offered one male secondary school teacher (in the
me some gifts that consisted of fresh sweet semi-rural area). Three senior community
corn, smoked fish and live chickens. Because members, one from each site are included in
Moyo district does not have public this sample because they lived in the villages
transportation except for buses leaving the with the families under research and had high
district for Kampala city once each day, I had literacy skills. All three are retired members of
to use the current common means of transport the community with education backgrounds;
in the country, the motorbike taxi, locally the two men (one in the urban and one in the
known as the boda-boda. This means of rural areas) were initially teacher educators,
transport was more convenient than using and in their later careers served as District
vehicles because it could penetrate and Inspectors of Schools (primary), while the
negotiate the narrow village footpaths up to female (from the semi-rural area) was a
the compound of these families, which other primary school teacher.
vehicles could not. Sometimes, deep in the When asked if there was a link between
semi-rural and rural areas, I had to finish my parents’ education/literacy levels and
journeys on foot when crossing sections of household poverty which in their opinion
streams such as Amua and Airo that had no would be likely to influence a school going
bridges. child, the responses of all participants in this
The order of reporting starts from category were consistent.
families where parents were categorised as Across the three sites, they all
professionals with high levels of literacy skills, acknowledged an association between parents’
and includes three senior community education and literacy levels and household
members. This sample is marked A and the poverty which is likely to influence a school
individual families are labelled A1. The semi- going child. A common element in all of their
skilled parents with average literacy skills are responses is that these parents regard their
marked B and the individual families labelled education and literacy skills as a tool that has
B2. The unskilled parents with limited or no
Influence of parental education and family income on children’s education in rural Uganda 155
overcome poverty in their families. This is was able to pay her children’s school fees
specifically expressed in the following data. through her salaried job as she reported:
…my education lessened my
Regina, the female health worker in the
problems,….my colleagues who did not
urban area reported: succeed dropped out of school early at
….my parents valued education even primary level and got married earlier.
though they did not go far with The difference – I can get whatever I
education. They encouraged me to go like, I can go to the bank and ask for
far with education so that I can support credit for my small project, which the
my own family in future…like now, the uneducated cannot because they are not
father of these children is out of job at earning. You see, sister being
the moment, but the children do not feel uneducated has multiple disadvantages
the difference because I am able to like you cannot help your child when
provide both for their well-being and she/he is defeated in homework – you
education. What I am able to afford is can get wrong information, like dates
because of my earnings from the job - I about your children’s birth, you may fail
believe it is as a result of my education. to administer right medicine with right
I also keep telling my children, my own doses, which may lead to unnecessary
parents suffered – digging, and doing all deaths, and so on….
sorts of things to get money in order to
send me to school. But for you [my Regarding less educated parents, John,
children] I have built for you a house the retired school inspector in the rural area,
[permanent house], I want you to aim reported that pressure of poverty forces
high, be able to drive your own cars families to:
tomorrow… …. overwork their children with
Felix, the secondary school teacher (in fieldwork, sending them to work in the
the semi-rural area) appreciates his level of ‘shambas’ [Swahili for garden]. These
roles lead to school dropout rates
education because:
especially in rainy season - hah, first,
…. [I am] able to pay school fees not
you plant the beans, tend the cows…
only for my children from the salary I
get from teaching but also the children The Deputy Commissioner for primary
of my late brother. My father had three school in Uganda who was interviewed as part
wives and we were 18 children in the of this study, supports the claim about less
family but despite their lack of educated parents tending to overwork their
education, they worked hard in the
children in specific terms. He recalls the
garden, those days, haaah! Growing
slogan among the illiterate parents in
cotton…, and mum brewed nguli [local
beer] to educate us. I tell you, if you had Bugandaland as saying to their children in
lazy parents those days, you get nowhere Luganda (language of the Baganda):
with poverty. I remember, my father … na soma wa, in other words, ‘I did
often said, ‘let illiteracy remain with us not go to school but are you [children]
[parents]’. That is why now I am a not feeding? Can’t I support you?’
teacher, even though the salary is low, at Therefore, education is not necessary….
least, I am able to care and educate my
The illiterate are also renowned for
children.
sending their children to early marriages.
Rosanna, the health worker (nurse - in They see their children as sources of wealth
the rural area) likewise acknowledged that and labour. Sometimes there are forced
there is a link, and that being educated made a marriages all in pursuit of bride prize. In this
significant difference to her life and family. way, the illiterate parents are responsible for
Like the parent in the semi-rural context, she high rate of dropout of children in our primary
schools by valuing wealth over education.
156 Global Education Review 1(3)
This sentiment is illustrated by Anthony operators and thus allow the disco to
in the urban area, formerly a school inspector operate.
in the 1970s, who recalls his childhood life The responses from these professional
lived in poverty in the 1950s: parents link education directly to employment
…I started school at the age of 11. Until opportunities and the benefits gained from it.
then, I was tending the family animals, a However, there is a worrying trend developing
role assigned to boys not girls. When I in the urban area, particularly supported by
saw that there was no attempt to send
some educated individuals who, owing to
me to school because my relatives would
corruption, are supporting activities which are
like me to grow up and get married, I
started digging my shamba of cotton. potentially detrimental to the education of
My uncle took pity and came to help me. school going children - the night discos and
The first produce earned Ush 15/= video machine venues, for their own personal
(equivalent of 0.005 cents) of which I and material profit. In addition, there seem to
spent only 5/=(3/= school fees, 1/= be more disadvantages to children who do not
sukuleke (pyjamas) and 1/= flannel) and
have sleeping places of their own. Cornelius,
I gave the remaining 10/= to my father
to buy his favour in order to let me guardian in the rural area reported:
continue with schooling. We used local ….in most cases girls at Stella’s age
herbs such as leaves of pawpaw and (primary six child) sleep with their
gmbangiri for soap. Gmbangiri is a grandma [in one roomed hut] where
kind of fruit from a tree, which looks like they do not feel confident to study
maize cob but reddish in colour. When because of lack of space to study. But if
it matures you plucked the red stuff and they have their own room, they can feel
used it for washing your clothes, and it free to read and talk about their school
foams very much like soap. That is my work.
struggle to get education. On a positive note, all six professionals
He expressed a particular view about the interviewed acknowledged that there is an
dangers of poverty in the current Moyo town increasing change of attitude amongst the less
and described them as worrying: educated parents. They claim that the
… there is increased number of night majority of the less educated parents have
clubs such as the AGANA Complex. begun to realise the benefits of education from
Girls are particularly being lured by men observing other families. They argued that
who have money, they buy these girls
now more than ever, they desire their children
things which some parents are not able
to be educated, though they face very serious
to afford. …in my observation, this
tradition of letting teenage children challenges of illiteracy and poverty which
sleep on their own in a separate hut is hinder the extent of the material and holistic
an added disadvantage… You, as a support they can provide to enhance the
parent, you do not know what these education of their children. This is
children are doing. One obvious summarised in the words of the Deputy
activity, unsupervised is, sneaking out
Commissioner at the national level who
for night discos, videos and the result is
reported that the majority of:
– behavioural problems, dropping out of
school, unwanted pregnancies, teenage ….illiterate parents have confessed,
motherhood, sickness; notably, ‘since I have not gone to school, so let
HIV/AIDS, these days, etc…. Moreover, my children go to school and get the
some of the government officials who education we did not get’.
are supposed to ensure order and law Three professional parents attested that
are the ones corrupted by money. They although their parents had low or no level of
receive money from these disco
formal education, they endeavoured to educate
Influence of parental education and family income on children’s education in rural Uganda 157
them in order to ‘stop the generation of education and poverty but he believes if he
illiteracy’ (Felix in the semi-rural area). had a committed and faithful partner it would
make a significant difference despite being
Pupils from A1 families unemployed. He reported:
The three pupils (Celine, Nila and Lily) …I can read notices on the way and in
interviewed in this category all repeated places. I can’t do things like carpentry
classes before primary six (P.6). They without education or manage building
and carpentry calculations. But Moyo
attributed their repetition of classes to a lack
doesn’t offer much opportunity for job,
of knowledge of the English language (the
there are two problems with semi-
language of instruction), lack of textbooks and skilled jobs: payment is irregular and
storybooks for personal reading and, above all, very low. This is because we often make
to personal factors such as a lack of agreement verbally...verbal agreement is
motivation, fear of guardians and teachers, tricky, you know. Secondly, I lack tools,
and laziness/lack of concentration. Only one they are expensive otherwise, I could do
joinery. For this reason, I have to travel
of the three pupils (in the urban area) had a
to do on and off jobs in South Sudan.
room to herself while the other two slept with
their siblings which meant they did not have Without a specific point of reference,
study spaces of their own. All three testified to two of the respondents in this category, Mike
the importance of parental education in and Cornelius reported that they sometimes
supporting their work at school. find themselves spending long hours (8 hours
or days) looking for jobs and when such jobs
are found, the pay is minimal which can hardly
B. Category of semi-skilled parents, with
sustain the family. One parent’s lament, ‘I do
average education and literacy skills levels
not have valid papers’ sends a strong message.
This category of parents completed either
In this way, their casual employers become
ordinary level of secondary education (“O” and
manipulative because the job contracts are
“A”) or they started but dropped out of school
done verbally. However, Cornelius, who
but they have no qualification in any skill. The
initially worked with a Non-Governmental
study established that this category depended
Organisation (NGO) mobile
on casual jobs without written contractual
telecommunication company and now works
documentation except Ben who is in the
with local government reported a positive side
defence forces. They will be referred to as
to job seeking. He reported that moving from
Mike (a builder), Ben (a soldier), and
place to place in search of work sometimes has
Cornelius (a civil servant) (in the urban, semi-
some advantages:
rural and rural area respectively).
…because of the type of my job I have
In response to the question of whether
penetrated in places like Eremi, Abeso,
or not, there was a link between parents’ Pe’ecoa in the mountains of Metu to
education and literacy skill levels and erect telephone masts where I also
household poverty which is likely to influence learned how to grow vegetables from the
a school going child, their responses were people. Due to the mountains, the
striking, identifying a positive correlation people there practice intensive
between these factors but lamenting the very agriculture unlike in my own area along
the Nile where the land is flat and
real challenge they face as a result of not
abundant. These movements have made
having sufficient formal education. me to compare life styles of people I
Mike (in the urban area, a self-trained have met with me. It has made me to
builder after “O” level, with no particular both appreciate my own and learn from
qualification) acknowledges the link between other people how I can do certain things
differently.
158 Global Education Review 1(3)
Nevertheless, generally, the semi-skilled take care of her, she should move totally
to his home.
parents report facing significant domestic and
marital problems; these ranged from financial, Cornelius, a civil servant, reiterates the
unemployment, broken marriages, big family mobile nature of his job which blends in with
sizes, and a lack of time to spend with the general description of the semi-skilled
children. parents, and prevents them from monitoring
Ben’s family (in the semi-rural area) their children’s activities. However, what he
presented a typical example of such marital did not reveal was the customary sanction
and domestic difficulties. He serves in the (revealed by Helen’s father in a separate
interview) which was placed on the child’s
national Army and reported that despite
father and which does not allow him access to
having a regular job in the army, it is poorly
the home where she lives with her uncle
paid and that he could be transferred any time,
Cornelius and grandmother. He cannot have
from place to place, which does not allow him
the custody of his children alleged to have
to spend time with his family. At the time of
been born in an incestuous relationship. In
the interview, he was 300km away from home
this situation, while Helen’s uncle takes on the
and so I had a telephone interview with him as
unprecedented financial burden, she grapples
his wife (illiterate as she admitted) declined to
with the emotional and physical traumas,
answer further questions apart from
which inevitably affect her education.
responding to greetings. Ben has five children
born to three different wives, two of whom had
Pupils from B2 families
left him and the current wife has two children,
The three pupils observed in the semi-skilled
while also caring for the other three children
families all repeated classes before grade six;
left by the previous women. Similarly,
Francis (urban) repeated grades 3 and 5,
Cornelius (in the rural area), who works with
Martin (semi-rural) repeated grades 2 and 5
the local government 50km from home after
and Helen in the rural repeated only class 5.
having worked with different NGOs in the This data in this category is more heavily
district shares in this predicament of being characterised by repetition of classes because
semi-skilled. Cornelius completed senior these pupils reported getting no help from
four, but when the civil war struck in the early their parents.
1980s, it interrupted his study. He is newly The reasons cited by these pupils for
married without children but he is supporting repeating classes included:
five children belonging to his sisters whose • being overworked at home;
marriages all failed due to alcoholism and • lack of school fees, which resulted in being
some customary laws. He reports: sent home and missing classes;
…my main worry is the movement of • being left to mind the home instead of going to
this child (Helen), between three homes;
school;
from home here to her father in the
town, to her mother, and back here. • mistreatment from step parent(s);
Moreover, I do not know what times she • lack of the English language;
goes to see her father and what she does • inadequate provisions such as paraffin for
while there. Since I am not always at studying and other scholastic materials such
home, I have not monitored what times
as exercise books, pens and pencils, maths set
she actually returns home or whether
etc., and;
she actually goes to school. Despite the
lack of time, I intend to meet the father • lack of conducive environment for study
about this so that if he thinks he can (sharing room with other children).
Influence of parental education and family income on children’s education in rural Uganda 159
Some of these points are expressed in skills so that they can assist their children in
the written words of the pupils as below: school matters.
helpful because both parents are illiterate. • an expectation from work colleagues to
However, he expects his parents: spend leisure time [educated parents] out
with friends rather than with family;
• children spending most of their time
separated from adults, including parents,
and
• children rarely interacting with parents due
to cultural values.
These reported challenges present
(Joel, pupil, rural area) significant implications for the school going
Joel’s concerns cover multiple needs for child in the Moyo district of Northern Uganda.
a school going child, ranging from school
requirements, nutrition, study time at home Discussion
and parental advice. The pupils’ expectations While parents in this study were willing to be
of their parents suggest that they do not have involved in the education of their children, in
adequate resources for their schooling at practice, illiteracy and low levels of living
home. This was confirmed during my home standards, generally reported in the rural
visits and the main reason was the lack of district, compromised parent-child interaction
money and poverty. time. Parental employment outside of the
The data found that all parents and home presented two perspectives: on the one
educators interviewed reported that parents, hand, it brought in money to the family, but on
regardless of their levels of education, are the other hand, it was disadvantageous, as
eager for their children to do well in school in parents had to be away from home for long
order to secure a better life and opportunities. periods, taking into account that in Moyo
However, those in the semi-literate and district professional jobs are located in the
illiterate categories reported facing common urban centre areas. While survival was the
challenges related to illiteracy and household main reason for parents’ employment outside
poverty, which result in: of the home (paid or unpaid), it denied parents
• reading neither to their children nor for and children time for educational interaction,
themselves; the balance of time being spent in most cases
on non-academic chores and activities. In
• lack of time, for individual children’s needs;
part, the cultural norms where children are
• not helping children in their homework due
not often engaged in conversation with
to a lack of time and literacy skills;
parents in these communities are an added
• rarely visiting school to discuss their
disadvantage to parent-child interaction.
children’s school progress;
Thus, the balance of parental resources in
• inadequate provision for children’s school
terms of time, money and interaction devoted
requirements due to low income, and
to children is minimal at best and, as reported
poverty;
in this study, does not enhance the primary
• an over-burdening engagement in activities
school children’s academic development or
for the survival of the whole family, instead
achievement. Furthermore, as literacy
of focusing on academic matters with their
activities tend to be consistently underplayed
children,
in the family setting as was evident during site
• illiteracy as a hindrance between parents-
visits, there appear to be no role models for
children interaction on academic and school
children to emulate. In contrast, modern
matters,
symbols such as social centres, and tools such
162 Global Education Review 1(3)
as radios, cell phones and videos appear to be time of my home visit was on maternity leave
replacing the absence of parental involvement was able to spend all the time with her
in family homes and in wider society, but children at home. I noticed her asking her 9
unfortunately they are adapted in ways that year old and her 12 year old daughters about
seem to reinforce the traditional values their mock examinations as soon as they
associated with such activities as dance, music arrived back home from school: “What exam
and oral forms of leisure rather than did you do today?”, “What questions came?”,
engagement with text or language for “What answers did you write?”, “Did you
educational or developmental purposes. complete all the questions?”, and so on. The
The data from the family site visits children in turn asked her to explain some of
revealed that while the situation for the the questions they were not sure about, for
educated and consequently professionally example, the 9 year old told her mother that
employed parents is considerably better than she did not answer one question in her Social
the other two categories of participants in this Science paper because she did not understand
study, they still face challenges with regard to what the word ‘importance’ meant in the
time constraints. They are not able to fully question, ‘what is the importance of roads?’
support their children in school. Their homes In the evening, the family read some
however featured greater evidence of a literacy texts from the bible in both the local language
rich environment than the other participants, (by the grandmother to the children) and in
and the materially better off parents were able the English language (by Regina to the
to provide greater space and resources to their children) and later the two children read the
school going children, and encouraged them to same texts in both languages. The reading
achieve in school in order to get a good job as sessions were then followed by storytelling
was the case with Regina (urban area) and after supper. This indicated clearly that
Felix (semi-rural area). professional parents are willing to help their
For instance, Regina’s daughter, children in their school work if they have time.
Celine was the only one who had her daily Conversely, I did not witness any of
timetable posted on the wall in their living the less educated parents engaged in literacy
room. There was also literacy related evidence related activities such as reading, writing and
available in the house, which included a radio, educational conversations about school with
a calendar, a clock, posters about health and a their children even when they were doing work
box full of a variety of books and printed text. together. During my visits to these categories
Some of these printed materials belonged to of families, I noted that parents mostly gave
her parents. Above all, Celine had her own instructions and orders to children: ‘Zina, peel
sleeping room, while the children of the other the potatoes’ (urban), ‘Dina, collect the
professionals in the semi-rural and rural areas, cassava when the rain comes’ (semi-rural),
though they had separate huts for their and ‘Joel, do not forget to bring in the goats
children, they had to share them with their before dark’.
siblings. As for the home learning
In contrast, the data showed that the environment, there was no comparison with
children of the semi-skilled and the unskilled those in the homes of the professional parents.
parents had no such items in their homes. For instance, I witnessed a two year old girl
There was little evidence of their (unskilled rural family) fiddling with a maize
[professional] active engagement in their cob as her toy baby. She was requesting her
children’s schoolwork. Their willingness, grandmother to tie the cob on her back as the
nevertheless in assisting their children was local women do with their babies. This activity
undeniable. Regina (urban nurse), who at the reflects how the socio-cultural values and
Influence of parental education and family income on children’s education in rural Uganda 163
norms inform children’s development and needs such as food, shelter, clothing and good
points to the importance of how homes rich in quality education as recommended by the
cognitive stimulation can help children to government of Uganda (Lubangakene, 2013).
imitate what adults do and thereby develop This posits the demand for a new way forward.
their social and educational potential. In this
case, the child was using, and was encouraged Recommendations
to use the resources available as she does not Arising from this study, two types of
have the real toy baby to play with. This led to recommendations arise: a practical short-term
some valuable opportunities for oral language suggestion and a longer-term
development, but her grandmother did not recommendation are deemed appropriate in
actively engage with her during this extended alleviating parents’ challenges in providing
play activity. support to their children in the face of literacy
Overall, the implications of this data for and poverty challenges. These proposals were
the school-going child are many. Firstly, mooted by the participants in their interviews.
where parents are not practicing reading,
either to their children or for themselves, it Local income generation (short-term)
suggests an absence of practical literacy The semi and unskilled parents could engage
activities in the family. Additionally, when in other income generating activities that may
parent-child interaction does not take place, not take them far away from home. Activities
either due to a lack of time (professionals at such as growing of vegetables, though labour
paid jobs), money (semi-skilled and unskilled) intensive, could be time saving, if they are
or illiteracy (unskilled) parents, the practice of grown near to the home so that the children
writing and reading are alienated from day-to- can also participate in the activities and spend
day activities in the home. This may not only more time with their parents after school.
reduce a pupil’s creativity and thinking, but Furthermore, horticulture does not require a
also affect his/her academic achievement by large piece of land and so this may be
not being able to meet the standard of reading conducive with the increasing population.
and writing required for academic purposes as
demonstrated in this study and as already Intervention (long-term)
alluded to in various other studies (UNESCO, A number of suggestions were noted in this
2006; Feinstein et al., 2008; Desforges and category. First, the government should ensure
Abouchaar, 2003; Brown and Iyengar, 2008; a salary increase for civil servants, improve
UNESCO, 2005). infrastructure, sensitise parents through local
Secondly, the high levels of semi-literate leaders about the value of education and
and illiteracy among the parents studied posit launch a country-wide adult education
the problem of unemployment and programme. Secondly, it was proposed that
underemployment, both leading to low parent-parent partnerships need to be
incomes and household poverty in over two developed between parents with high
thirds of the sample reported here. This education and literacy skill levels and those
agrees with reports by the Ministry of Finance, with low educational backgrounds at
Planning and Economic Development community level so that parents get to help
(MFPED, 1999; UNESCO, 2006), that where each other in relation to the education of their
the quality and productivity of labour are low, children.
so are salaries and wages. As indicated by the
World Bank (2009), low income parents are Conclusion
unable to provide holistic support to their The study established a strong relationship
school-going children, including meeting basic between parents’ education, literacy levels and
164 Global Education Review 1(3)
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