parents and principals as partners in creating a culture of learning

[ 2 1
This study deals with some of the problems encountered by parents and principals
in becoming partners to create a culture of learning and also provides some
possible solutions as to how these problems could be resolved.
1.2 ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM
The ongoing turmoil in many schools in South Africa underscores the failure of
parents and principals in assuming responsibility to create a culture of learning
(Alexander, 1993:1). Nearly twenty years after the children of Soweto turned
school playgrounds into battlefields in the ·war against apartheid· , education in the
·new· democratic South Africa is still in tatters. Children have become immersed
in politics and anti-social behaviour for so long that parents face an uphill struggle
to convince them that going to school is politically acceptable, let alone essential
and vital for their progress towards adulthood (Mkondo, 1995: 11).
Conflict in many schools manifests itself physically as confrontations between
students and teachers, students and principals as well as between students and their
parents (Alexander, 1993:2-3; Bissetty, 1997: 1). A major problem facing parents
and principals according to Ngakane & Naidoo (1995:13) and Van Niekerk &
Meier (1995:74-77) is how to get children to attend school and how to make those
children who attend school to gain the full benefit of their education. As South
Africa commits more and more of its resources to the provision of education,
parents and principals have to make sure the conditions for teaching and learning
are in place (De VilIiers, 1997:76). According to Ngakane & Naidoo (1995:13)
and Ramphele (1992:17) a well-equipped school will be of no use if parents and
principals fail in their responsibilities to ensure that the conditions for teaching and
learning are in place.
For too long according to Van Wyk (1996 b:22) education has been seen as the
exclusive domain of the schools, and parental participation has therefore been