Social capital in the viewpoint of members of the boards of trustees of primary schools in Assiut governorate countryside, Egypt

The concept of social capital occupied an important place in the era of globalization as a result of the failure of development efforts witnessed in the second half of the last century and the inability to achieve justice, to emphasize its scientific value as a civilized economic effort that went beyond the adversity of development, growth and the inequitable distribution of wealth. In this context, the current research sheds light on the diagnosis of the reality of social capital in the primary school, and how it is formed under the factors linked between the school and members of the Board of Trustees and parents, and the role it plays in guiding and facilitating the educational process, and then achieve the desired scientific knowledge of the educational system. The present research methodology is based on the sample survey methodology applied to 36 members of the Board of Trustees distributed in 5 selected primary schools from the centers of Abutieg, Sahel Selim, Assiut, Qusiya and Abnoub in Assiut governorate, Egypt. Perhaps the most prominent findings of the study are that those with a medium knowledge of the concept of social capital accounted for the majority, while the low and high literacy rate did not exceed a quarter of the total respondents, and that the prevailing trend for the four dimensions of social capital was characterized by the average for the dimension of tolerance, diversity, and acceptance of the other. It had a tendency towards the average for the dimension of mutual trust, and was characterized by the average for the dimension of the network of social relations, coming after the collective and voluntary work to be the predominant trend on the high. Of course, this reality of social capital drives towards improving the relationship between the school and the surrounding community, which leads to improvement of the educational process in the primary education system.