Community Participation in Health and Safety Management in Public Schools: A Qualitative Exploration of Stakeholder’s Perspectives in the Awutu Senya East Municipality in Ghana

Ghana has taken significant steps toward establishing School Management Committees (SMC) as a unique identity of participation of parents and the community in school management. “SMC Participation” is a framing that thrives on an ideology to create avenues for mobilizing local material and human resources, taking responsibility for preventing conflicts, and creating a safe school environment. However, scholars pay less attention to the community characteristics which may shape SMC participation in school management. This paper explores local factors shaping and driving SMC participation in school management. Data is analyzed from interviews, focused group discussions, and observation in eight public schools in Awutu Senya East Municipality. Findings showed participants’ awareness of a policy and interpretation of defining roles. The study also found that the ban on corporal punishment in 2016 and prohibition on collecting levies in 2017 limited stakeholder’s interest in health and safety management. The study found that social environment issues such as migration and poor parenting created difficulty in engaging parents in health and safety promotion. The study argues that policy and schools’ social environment shape SMC interests in health and safety promotion in public schools.