The Ministry of Education through the National Parent/Teachers Association (PTA) is hosting a series of parent awareness sessions in depressed communities countrywide aimed at stimulating and keeping parents interested in their children’s education and well-being.
According to a press release Coordinator Carol Benn said the campaign will start at the Ann’s Grove Secondary School this week. It also aims to help parents understand the need to inculcate values such as tolerance, respect and good citizenship in their children. The sessions will be conducted by “seasoned experts” who will be giving lectures on the importance of good hygiene, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, alcohol abuse, physical and verbal abuse and other ills. Parents will also be told about the ministry’s policies and programmes in order to tackle these and other issues relevant to the sector.
Benn said too some schools have started parent conferencing and it is expected that teachers at all schools will meet with parents at least twice yearly to brief them on their children’s performance and behaviour. She noted that a circular on this topic has been dispatched to all schools and checks will be made with Regional Education Officers to ensure teachers are meeting with parents. These developments are in keeping with the ministry’s thrust to forge a more vibrant working relationship between parents and schools through the PTA to ensure that students are closely monitored, remain motivated, focused and results-oriented.
This year, Benn has resuscitated two dormant PTAs and established two regional PTA bodies, as the ministry upped its efforts to get parents more involved in their children’s education. Also, the PTA coordinator and ministry officials last month convened a parent symposium to map a way to get parents to pay a keener interest not only in their children’s education but also their behaviour both in and out of school.
Benn said currently a desk manual on parent education programmes at the ministry is being developed and when the document is completed it is expected to boost the programme.
