Building Social Protection for Empowering Families Through Parental Engagement in Primary School Education

This study examined how parental engagement serves as a conduit for building social protection for empowering families within primary school systems in low-income East African communities. While family school partnerships are increasingly recognized in education policy, empirical insights into their contribution to household resilience remain limited. Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory and Epstein’s framework of school–family–community partnerships, this study was grounded in a pragmatic philosophical stance and employed a longitudinal mixed-methods design. Secondary repository data were drawn from the Strengthening Education Systems in East Africa (SESEA) and Foundations for Learning (F4L) projects implemented by Aga Khan University in Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda. Quantitative datasets, including school surveys, teacher practicum records, and engagement reports, were analyzed using descriptive statistics, while qualitative data from evaluation reports and policy briefs underwent thematic content analysis. Quantitative findings revealed that 82.7% of the schools had developed parental engagement action plans, yet only 28.7% formally included parents in school governance. Schools adopting multimodal engagement strategies combining digital and in-person participation recorded up to a 45% increase in attendance, while those offering parent incentives, such as meals or transport, achieved a 17% increase in participation and 21% in volunteerism. Moreover, 61% of teacher college-linked schools reported enhanced parent-teacher communication following digital pilot programs, although 33% of rural schools still face digital exclusion. Thematically, the findings highlight that community leadership, inclusive governance, and culturally responsive engagement enhanced both children’s learning and family agency in addressing barriers such as gender bias and time-poverty. The study concludes that embedding parental leadership into school improvement and social protection frameworks can strengthen household resilience and equity. Thus, parental engagement emerges as a transformative pathway for inclusive, community-driven educational development in East Africa.