The responsibility of a child’s education is not of the schools alone. Parental involvement is a crucial aspect. Parents can be the best advocates of defining their path
Too often, we hear of incidents of violence and shocking crimes being committed by juveniles, teenagers and young college-going students. This leaves me confused as to who should be held responsible. Though responsibility can be shared by many — schools, teachers and friends — let’s not forget that parents play a critical role here. A child grows up in a family and spends a lot of time at home, yet parents pass the buck to others when their child goes off the track. Last year, the Delhi Government launched parenting workshops in Government schools for guardians of children appearing for class 10 and 12 board exams. The aim was to provide a conducive environment at home.
While I applaud the initiative, the question is: Why be selective? Why only Government schools and parents of those students who were appearing for board exams were included in the programme? Is it that only children of Government schools are involved in all sorts of unexpected/anti-social activities? Is it that low performance of students in many private schools is not an issue? While not questioning the intention of such workshops, the only concern is whether they would yield immediate results. The most intriguing part of these initiatives is that they are not continuous and mandatory.
Performance in board exams is important but a desperate bid may not be fruitful. An attempt must be made to make such workshops/training programmes part and parcel of all schools. Such type of training sessions/workshops should be organised by schools, Government as well as private, more often than not. I feel there is a dire need for schools to co-opt parents in the upbringing of their own wards.
Parents entrust the entire responsibility for the child’s learning and development to schools. Can parents absolve themselves of all responsibility by simply paying the fees? The parents’ mindset of “we pay the fees and thus have the right to expect” is proving counter-productive for society at large. Something scarier is that this attitude is passing on to their children, who are more aware of their rights than duties. It hardly crosses their mind about giving; they rather expect. Here comes the need to educate the parents, who in turn will make concerted efforts and become a part of the growing up process of their children.
While we are thinking of our younger population and planning to move to the next level with them, this mindset is not very progressive for society. Parents need to be more actively involved in their wards’ growing up. A commercial mindset does not apply when it comes to a parent-child relationship. A lot of time and effort is required to imbibe the right set of values. Love and affection do not mean indulgence only out of guilt feeling. More shocking, there is another set of parents, who supports their children for all their wrongdoings. And by the time they realise it, it’s too late. They do not think twice before blaming the teachers and educational institutions when the same child goes astray. For example, ask a student to re-do his/her work for better output, parents will come running to the teacher complaining that due to work pressure, the child has gone into depression.
How many parents inculcate reading habits among their children? They would rather give them access to Facebook. Parents go out of the way to gift their children the most expensive mobile phones but do they really take out time to find out how it is being misused? How many parents teach their children how to manage their performances, which is entirely different from getting their homework done? Do they think that training the child for delayed rewards is no less an effort?
If we go on to calculate the number of time children spend in school in regard to time spent outside, it will not be surprising that the latter would be more. So how do we expect the school to shoulder the responsibility entirely? But here, schools could pitch in by organising workshops/training sessions for parents. We cannot expect the younger generation to be better individuals while being successful if parents do not spend time with their children. Spending time does not mean indulgence. Sessions need to focus on imbibing values like saying ‘no’ for instance; managing performance; courtesy; goal setting; time management; discipline; interpersonal behaviour; ethical behaviour et al.
Organising such sessions should not be considered as another burden for schools. These should be looked at as constructive mechanisms to ease things, leading to better performance. There should be a series of sessions where parents have to participate in compulsorily. At the same time, schools should not be looking at these sessions as an end of their role. More often than not, it is observed that schools, in their bid to concentrate on the study part, forget to ingrain young minds with invaluable values or beliefs and compel them to face the competitive world.
In the end, it is felt that both teachers/schools and parents as partners will be able to bring in a sea change in the mindset of the youngsters. It is immaterial whether the student is in Government or private school. This has become a burning need now especially because of all the misdeeds often carried out by the juveniles. Society can never be a better place to live if parents think it is the responsibility of the schools and vice-versa. Instead, going hand-in-hand will go a long way. Better performance can only be expected after continued collaborative efforts by both parents and teachers. No quick-fix solution will help the cause.
(The author is working as Associate Professor at The NorthCap University, Gurgaon)
