Pupils Perception Of The Influence Of Parental Involvement On Their Motivation To Learn And School Outcome
[A CASE STUDY OF ABEOKUTA METROPOLIS’]

2.4    Benefits of Parental Involvement in Children Education
In terms of learning what happens before and after school can be as important as what takes place in the class (National Education Association, 2008). Schooling is merely a part of education and therefore parents are intimately involved in 85% of education which occurs outside the school (Munn, 1993). In addition, parents can ensure to make reading materials available for their children particularly in early literacy stage. Shared reading activities with children can effectively enhance their early reading capacity. Research has repeatedly demonstrated that there is a significant positive relationship between availability of reading materials at home and the child achievement in reading (Becher, 1985). Afghan children who start schooling at the age of seven have already passed a very important early development stage which provides the foundation for future development especially in language and cognitive domains. Parents as well as institutions in the community such as mosques play an important role in that early learning as pre-school education is not provided by the state in Afghanistan except for some kindergarten in urban settings. Parents at home and religious learning at mosque expose children to learning alphabet and acquiring religious knowledge that is important to the families. Harvard Family Research Project conducted a meta-analysis drawing from 77 studies to determine the impact of parental involvement on K–12 students' academic achievement. The results indicated that parental involvement is associated with higher academic achievement. The achievement scores of children with highly involved parents was higher than children with less involved parents. The pattern held true not only for mainstream students but also for minority students (Jeynes, 2005). Parental involvement reduces disruptive behaviors on the part of students. To reduce the negative outcome of disruptive behaviors, parental involvement in children's education can play an effective role (Coutts, Sheridan, Kwon & Semke, 2012).
Jeynes (2005) carried out a meta-analysis of parental involvement studies exploring various components to find out which aspects influenced student achievement. Two of the patterns that emerged from the findings were that the facets of parental involvement that required a large investment of time, such as reading and communicating with one's child, and the more subtle aspects of parental involvement, such as parental style and expectations, had a greater impact on student educational outcomes than some of the more demonstrative aspects of parental involvement, such as having household rules, and parental attendance and participation at school functions.
2.5      Importance of Basic Science in Primary Education
The primary level of education is considered all over the world to be the most important level of education being a foundational level. The National Policy on Education put it more succinctly when it stated that “since the rest of the education system is built upon it, the primary level is the key to the success or failure of the whole system” (Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN), 2004, p. 14). Primary education therefore forms the basis for a child’s ability or inability to function well at post-primary levels. This implies that whatever achievement a child will make in his/her future academic endeavor depends on the foundation laid for him/her at the primary level (Osuafor & Okigbo, 2010). Furthermore, in this era of scientific and technological advancement, there is need for a solid foundation in science and technology education at the primary level of education so as to engage them at a young age. Science therefore should be effectively taught at the primary school level to prepare children for further studies in science and technology at a higher level of education. The some primary objectives of teaching science at the primary level include:
•    To lay a sound basis for scientific and reflective thinking;
•    To give the child opportunities for developing manipulative skills that will enable the child to function effectively in the society within the limits of the child’s capacity; and
•    To provide the child with basic tools for further educational advancement, including preparation for trades and crafts for the locality (FRN, 2004, p.14).
These objectives cannot be achieved without a firm foundation of scientific enquiry at the primary school level. Tomorrow’s problems can be analyzed and solved more easily if the primary school of today does a better job of preparing the child to face tomorrow’s problems through appropriate teaching and learning of science.