To a layman like me, formal education is a passport to a life of comfort, dignity, health and — wealth. The intelligent teachers, educational gurus, expertise heavyweights and well known scholars — all may agree with me that there is one key requirement for a child’s education: parental support.
Absent the support from parents for a child’s education, we witness a rapid decline in his/her academic standards and performance. The underperformance manifests itself in multiple ways— reading skill, writing skill, motivational level, school attendance and most importantly the homework completion.
To overcome this undesirable and unwelcome behavior of the learner, teachers’ role undoubtedly gains primary importance. But unless parents work hand in hand with the school authorities, a student’s performance is unlikely to gain ground. Not excluded are the exceptional learners.
What does parental support signify for a school going child? Not forgetting to provide paper, pen and books to the child when needed; not justifying the unjustified failure of the supervision over the child ‘s behavior at home pertaining to the school work; not dishing out excuses to justify his/her fault of sending the child without uniform ; clean and polished boots . A child upto the elementary level, to say the least, is after all a child. The childish tendency makes him/her adopt a non-serious attitude towards the studies, underscoring the need that the adults, the parents, have both moral and legal duty to supervise the educational activities of their children.
Notably, you can well imagine the plight of the teacher whose duty requires him/her to teach a child with an untidy personal hygiene; one who has unclean clothes, nose, teeth, hands and feet. Who will send the child neat and clean to school? Obviously, the parents. No alternatives.
In addition, parental support requires that a father and mother ought to keep an eagle eye on the actions of teachers to whom they have delegated the present and future of their children. Overestimating a teacher’s role is akin to escape from responsibilities; it also reflects a parent’s poor understanding of the process of education.
Arguably, it can be pointed out that all children or all parents related to the elementary schools do not adopt a casual approach towards education. In other words, they do not run away from their responsibilities towards schooling. Yet, the fact remains that eight out of ten parents either show zero support or poor support in educating their children. Later on, these parents badmouth teachers blaming them for the low achievements of their children.
Agreed that teachers’ role is essential regarding a child’s good or bad academic standards and schools feed children with a tonic of motivation to study hard with zeal, it is in bad taste to shift the blame— an excuse to hide one’s head in the sand — on to teachers in entirety. Parents cannot and should not ignore their duty towards the child’s education. And this duty does not just start and end by sending your child to school: parental care is needed everywhere (and every time) — be it school, home or street.
If a student shows up at school but carries neither a pen/ pencil nor a notebook/s, obviously his/her learning outcomes will be dismal. Or it has been seen that some siblings are provided by the parents a single pencil/ pen. These children race from one classroom to another to get the pencil from a sibling during classwork, affecting their learning badly. Apart from undermining the overall learning climate of their schoolmates.
Pertinently, the School Education Department (SED) J-K has been working dutifully and with a missionary zeal for the welfare of the children at government run schools. Not only the SED provides free books and uniform to the children, but it also provides free mid-day meals to them. Moreover, the department seeks to provide the teachers of best minds to the enrolled children at government schools. Better infrastructure — including electricity, safe drinking water, washrooms — are provided on priority.
Walking an extra mile, the SED has even provided free winter tuitions in the recent past and for the last few years has devoted itself to carry out an “Enrollment Drive” before the academic session goes underway. The drive serves a few purposes — it is an unambiguous message to people that educating their children comes first; all else is secondary. And that the government schools are the seat of outstanding education for the children.
An observation by some people that most teachers prefer to educate their own children at private schools not at government schools is worth considering. But a democratic set up does not believe in coercion. A government teacher is also a parent and is morally/ legally right in deciding about the kind of school for his/her children. Some teachers have admitted their own children at government schools. Public should appreciate it.
A doctor is not legally bound to treat her/ his family members at a government hospital; an officer or a political leader cannot be forced into admitting his/her child at a government school.
Meanwhile, the ongoing enrollment drive—which began on March 15— has reportedly proven a grand success once again: optimistically, the drive has admitted thousands of children in the government schools. More will arrive hopefully.
When the SED is displaying enough commitment and seriousness towards the education of the children at government schools, parents must endeavour to make proper arrangements for schooling their children at government schools. A wise father / mother is unlikely to confine a child’s education to just school. Supervising a child’s learning level and providing the reading/ writing material to it is a parent’s moral and legal duty. Parent- teacher cooperation can unlock a student’s treasure of potential.
A failure by a father/ mother to take care of their children back from school is an invitation to a bleak future. Simply blaming the teachers for low learning may satisfy a parent’s ego but will never carry a child’s learning standard to the top rung of the academic ladder.
What merits a special mention is that teachers’ competence, commitment and consistency certainly play an all-important part in the academic journey of children. A half hearted approach of a teacher or a less competent teacher, cause poor learning in children. From this, it follows that the capable and sincere teaching workforce can guarantee efficient learning in the children. But that in no way trivializes the key role that parental support plays in the studies of the learner. Supportive parents are a backbone of gainful education.
(Author is a teacher by profession and RK columnist. He can be reached on: [email protected])
