Dissertation (MA Education)
The current study sought to assess community attitude towards the relevance of
community education programmes in Wete District in Zanzibar. Thus, the specific
objectives of this study were to Explore the community perceptions on the relevance
of community education in Wete district, determine the relationship between
demographic factors and community perceptions towards community education,
assess socio-cultural and economic factors associated with community participation
towards community education activities, determine the extent of community
involvement in community education programmes in Wete district in Zanzibar and
solicit community opinions on ways to improve community education programmes
in Wete district. The study was guided by community development theory (1978),
constructivism theory (1978) and cultural theory (1978).A cross-section research
design was used to collect data that involved survey of 85 respondents from five
Shehias. SPSS computer program was used to analyse the data. Qualitative data were
analyzes through content analysis and quantitative data were analyzed statistically
using descriptive and inferential statistics by using SPSS Version 21, SAS and
Microsoft Excel were highly used. Multiple ANOVA techniques were used to seek
whether there is a relationship between demographic factors with community
education participation. The survey results showed that community has positive
perceptions towards the relevance of community education programmes. Either there
is no significant relationship between demographic factors with the community
education participation. Furthermore, their participation in community education
stimulated the accessibility of information, having a sense of ownership and fulfilling
social obligation factors. The findings indicate that, to large extent, the community
is mostly engaged in community learning. The findings reveal that community
involvement in decision making, participation of community leaders and conducting
of transformative research are appropriate strategies to improve community
education programmes. The study ends by recommending that special community
education courses should be established in the Universities and colleges to train the
existing community facilitators and produce more educators so as to bring
sustainable development.