Ms. Monieka Khanna
CEO- Mount Olympus Group of Schools
In this 21st century, parental involvement in child’s education and schooling has acquired a different meaning altogether. Parental engagement in child’s schooling is imperative for the success of education system by improving student achievement and building strong relationships between parents and their child’s school.
The major aspects that are strengthened when parents are holistically included as a part of the child’s education process are:
Building Trust: The first and the most crucial aspect to it is trust. We have always seen how parents especially mothers are worried about wellbeing of their child in the first few days of the school. Allowing parents more access and participation in school’s everyday activities like personally dropping-in their child till the classroom and having face to face chat with the teacher creates a trust factor which runs deep in the long run. This flexibility can be managed for foundation year’s students for few days.
Quality of education: Every parent has a certain criteria and a vision from the school for shaping up their child in a certain way. Herein any school can score the best by being a community school. The idea behind this is of being inclusive of parent community by utilising their talent pool for regular workshops and seminars. This allows parents and school to come together often and making learning a better experience for children as its more practical and experiential. It ultimately improves the quality of education and strengthens relationships.
Effective Communication: To ensure effective communication there should be no communication gap between parents and the schools. Schools should ensure regular parental involvement by inviting parents for PTMs, activities, competitions, and assemblies and allowing parents to form first hand opinion about their child’s education and how it is imparted on day to day basis. Schools should ensure that they are perceived approachable at every step so that parents can freely discuss their concerns, if any, about the school. Schools should also be receptive to valid suggestions and feedback given.
Clearing Misconceptions: A parent has the right to know where and how their money is being invested in their child’s education. No matter whatever and whichever way school is spending on the student’s resources and learning. There will always be handful of parents who will be quick to form opinions and misconceptions of how irrationally a school is asking for more and spending their money. It is only when there is an ongoing involvement of parents in crucial activities of the children that this misconception can be cleared forever. Sharing responsibilities and regular involvement like inviting them for annual days, seminars, workshops etc. that they can appreciate the school and its working genuinely.
Forming Culture: There is this common mind set of judging a book by its cover. It’s not the name that adds the value rather it’s the belief system on which school functions that decides the culture and decorum of a school and its students. The parents when participate often with school, will always be informed as in how the teachers talk to the children, how they are making efforts to make the child follow rules and are imparting self-discipline in students. It is sad to see many parents not turning up for PTMs and other scheduled events. They should know that their ward equally looks forward to see them being there and cheering up for them. Parents can’t have their say in the education process only when they make them present as and when invited to the school.
Improves learners’ performance: Parental involvement in learner’s performance has been demonstrated to be a key factor for children’s academic outcomes. It’s not concluded just as a heresy but is also backed by studies that have shown that active involvement of parents in their children’s education impacts their attitude towards their learning, developing positive behavior and creating more seriousness among children. Such children whose parents are more involved are more regular to school, more punctual in their activities and more consistent in their performances.
Though, parental involvement in education and schooling is encouraged, over involvement could also have an adverse impact in the development of the child. The idea is to participate while not being an imposition. The purpose is to add value, while not making them over-reliant on our spoon-feeding all the time. Till the time we as schools and parents are able to strike that balance, free we are in the right path to ensure our children’s bright future.
