Assessment Of Parents’ Literacy And The Academic Performance Of Learners At Musanze District – Rwanda

The aim of this study was the assessment of parents’ literacy and the academic performance of learners at Musanze District-Rwanda. The specific objectives were: to explore the strategies used by illiterate parents to help their learners to perform academically in Musanze district. To examine the strategies adopted by learners with illiterate parents to perform academically in Musanze District, to analyze the ways learners develop performance strategies to copy with the problem of illiterate parents. The population under this study consisted learners and parents. Totaling 10 potential respondents which took purposive sampling. The instrument of the study was structure interview questionnaire with recorder. Data were collected using recorder. The findings indicated that students with illiterate parents faces many challenges and they have even coping strategies of mitigating the challenges as indicated by respondents that parents who are illiterate helps their learners in terms of feeding them and paying a little amount of schools fees. The researcher used purposive sampling of five parents and five learners selected from Musanze District, the total number of respondents were ten individual six females and four males. The researchers recommend that the schools are encouraged to host events which enable parents to interact with the school on monthly basis such as consultation days, visiting days and sports day whereby parents are invited to cement the relationship between the school and the parents for the benefit of the child academically. There is need for increased sensitization of the public about parental literacy and its impact to the children's performance. Strengthening the bond between parents-children relationship through academic and social interaction should he paramount. Key words: literacy, illiteracy, parents, academic performance and strategy