Support From Extended Family can Compensate for the Lack of Parental Involvement In Children’s Education in Rural Pakistan
MA Educ. Qazi Ahmed’s dissertation presents some encouraging aspects as well as diverse challenges to parental involvement. Despite poverty, illiteracy, adherence to local customs, and indifference shown by teachers towards rural parents, children felt encouraged by collectivistic culture, and extended families’ educated members compensate for parents’ unavailability or inability to help children with their studies.
“In rural Pakistan, living in an extended family is part of the collectivist culture, and children from such a family system feel closer to their cousins, uncles, and aunts; they learn from them and each other”. Previous research has not noted the role of extended family in children’s learning in the developed world or individualistic culture.
Besides, different realities and differences of opinion emerged from parents’ and teachers’ viewpoints about cooperation and responsibility for children’s academic failures, resulting in a gap between home and school. “Parents seemed to blame teachers for disrespectful and nonprofessional behaviour, while teachers blamed parents for lack of involvement and irresponsible attitude in children’s education”.
This dissertation has broadened the meaning of parental involvement through its novel insights into a life context characterized by a precarious socio-economic situation and a rich network of extended family systems.
MA (Educ.) Qazi Ahmed defends his doctoral dissertation “Parental Involvement in Education in Rural Pakistan: Children’s, Parents’ and Teachers’ Perspectives” on 15.12.2023 at noon in Seminaarinmäki L, room 304. Opponent Prof. Päivi Pihlaja (University of Eastern Finland) and Custos Prof. Anna Rönkä (Ģֱ). The public defense is held in English.
MA Educ. Qazi Ahmed graduated from high school in Pakistan. He came to Jyväskylä to study and completed his master’s degree in education in 2016. His doctoral dissertation work was funded by the Department of Education JYU, the Ella and Georg Ehrnrooth Foundation, and the Nyyssönen Foundation.
Publishing information
The dissertation can be read at .
Defense can be followed at .
