Strengthening the Roles of Parent Teacher Association in Secondary Schools for Better Community Participation in Educational Development in Nigeria

The paper examined the traditional roles of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) in secondary schools inNigeria. The state of secondary schools in Nigeria suggests that there are still some problems facing the school inwhich the PTA had been found wanting. These include inadequate financial support of the PTA to the schools;lack of cooperation between the schools and the parents; inadequate supervision of schools among others. Thepaper therefore made some recommendations on how the roles of the PTA can be strengthened for bettercommunity participation in the provision of qualitative education at the secondary school level. These includegiving the PTA more involvement in educational financing; giving them more responsibilities in schooladministration; giving them direct labour for execution of school projects instead of giving to outsidecontractors.