Parents need to play their part

My article on Wednesday, July 20, titled 'Blueprint to literacy', drew positive feedback from people all across the world. I want to say a big thank you for the constructive responses, and I am sure that all stakeholders will play a part in promoting the welfare of our young Jamaican students with regard to the improvement of their literacy status and general achievement levels.

It would not be prudent, however, to lead Jamaicans into believing that I am placing the burden of advancing literacy, and indeed general student performance, in the laps of everyone but the parents of this country. Parents need to stand up and be counted where it concerns the overall education of the nation's children.

We are in the field every day, and we know the power of having positive parental guidance and support, and the impact that has had on achievement levels in schools. On the contrary, we have seen numerous cases where a lack of parental care has had disastrous effect on the developmental processes of children. Still, we want to promote the findings of wide-ranging research which shows clear correlation between student achievement and the type of parental guidance and support received.

In Jamaica, we need to look no further than at the results achieved by the preparatory and primary schools which have strong parent-teacher associations (PTAs), and compare them to the results obtained by those schools where they can hardly get the parents to make themselves available for a five-minute talk with their child's teacher. The same holds true at the secondary-school level when the CSEC and CAPE results are in.

IRRESPONSIBLE

For too long many parents have been allowed to get away with their lack of interest and irresponsible attitude towards their children's education. I need to look no further for examples than some of the daily situations we face at the school I lead. Approximately 98 per cent of our parents live in the community where the school is located. Yet, when we call PTA or parent consultation meetings, it is a struggle to get even as many as 10 parents to attend. None of these parents, based on their proximity to the school, takes more than 10 minutes to walk to school.

We have set up an 'early-work' programme which runs from 7 a.m.-8 a.m. each day, the purpose of which is to reinforce previous material taught. This is of no cost to the parents, and teachers travel in from as far as St Thomas and Portmore to be there on time for the children. Credit must be given to the few parents who ensure that their children make it in for early work, but after a few weeks, more than 80 per cent of the students do not take advantage of this generous offering.

One of the prime excuses we get for students' unpunctuality or absenteeism is that they "woke up late". Who is in charge? Parents, or children? I would like to suggest that these parents are derelict in carrying out their duties to get their children to bed on time, and get them out to school on time. If parents cannot perform simple duties like these, many of them do not deserve to be in custody of children.

UNDONE HOMEWORK

Many teachers utilise homework as a means to reinforce material taught. And I dare say that many of our students must see the material repeatedly before they adequately grasp it. Too many parents fail to play their part in ensuring that homework is done. While I understand that some of the material may be challenging for even the parent at times, quite often all it takes is guidance and support.

I advocate that the relevant bodies - be it the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica, board chairmen, members of parliament, senators, school principals - speedily come together and draft legislation that will bring delinquent parents in line. More time should be spent in Parliament dealing with critical issues like these if our nation is to take its rightful place in the global village.

Owen Speid is a school principal. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and speidowen@yahoo.com.