The general purpose of this study was to assess teachers' actual and desired levels of participation in decision-making in Kombolch general primary schools. To achieve the objective of the study, basic research questions were raised, regarding extents of teachers' participation in decision making, kinds of decisional areas, and relationships between teachers attributes with their perception. Descriptive survey research design was employed to the study. The size of the population was 372. Of these, 106 teachers and 16 principals were included in the sample making a total of 122 samples. But, who returned the distributed questionnaire were 103teachers andall 16 school principals. Combinations of simple random, proportional and comprehensive sampling techniques were used. A five point Likert scale questionnaire and semi-structured interview items for teachers and principals were the data collection instruments. All questionnaires were developed by the researcher. Pilot study was conducted before the questionnaire was administered. The reliability of the scales was computed using Cronbach alpha. Cronbach alpha values were (a=O. 79).Both descriptive and inferential statistical analysis techniques were employed to compute the data. 119 questionnaires were properly filled in and analyzed. To analyze the data percentage, paired sample t-test, one way ANOVA and narrative analysis were used. Reliability and data analysis were conducted using SPSS (version 11). The finding revealed that the actual level of teachers' participation regarding the overall decision making rated as moderate. The order of teachers desired level to participation in de~ision making were found as general school policy, curriculum and instruction, staff affairs, budget, student affairs, and school building. The paired sample t-test statistics reveals that there exists a significant mean difference between the actual and the desired levels of teachers' participation in the overall decision making. (t=7.688 and P=0.05). The result also shows that concerning sex and qualification their actual level of participation was non-significant but, their experience was significant. While, there were a significance difference in the case of experience and qualification but, in the case of sex no significant difference was found in the desired level of participation in the overall decision-making areas. The result of this study showed significant difference between the actual and desired level of participation in the overall decision making. Therefore, it may be conclude that teachers' actual participation was low but, their desire level of participation was high. Thus, it is recommended that . Abstract primary school principals should encourage teachers to participate in decision making so as to improve the quality of their decision and to stimulate the interests of teachers to take greater responsibility for school effectiveness.

A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Educational Planning and Management